CODA PRESS

Scott Elliott svarer på spørsmål høst 2019, i forbindelse med at CODA PRESS var fokusaktør i NAP sin bokhandel på Kunstnernes Hus.

WHAT IS CODA PRESS?

Coda Press’ curatorial focus is centred around developing the work of artists working primarily with text as a central medium in their studio practice. Coda is dedicated to promoting art writing as a catalyst for critical discourse and knowledge production on an equal plane to one’s visual practice. The press aims to promote an argument towards art writing as being something different to academic musings, exploring metafictions and intertextuality, and seeks to highlight a growing medium that is still in its early stages of recognition within many artistic circles. Scott Elliott (Editor /founder) is a graduate of the Master in Fine Arts programme at Kunsthøgskolen i Bergen and is currently working at Hordaland Kunstsenter where he coordinates the artist in residence programme. He is also a writer and curator, and the co-director of Weekend Server, a Bergen/Athens based curatorial platform that creates alternative contexts for the circulation of art.

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO START A PUBLISHING PRACTICE AND WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A BOOK PROJECT?

My own artistic practice was focused on artistic fiction and the artist novel as an emerging medium, so my interest in publishing was already apparent, but I was motivated to establish the press after working in a public arts institution where I noticed a natural focus on critical discourse being directed through Oslo and I hoped to encourage more of a dialogue around these practices in the city where I was based. I am also an unapologetic book fetishist and wanted to become more directly linked to the production of the book in its more material form.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ROLE IN THE PROCESS OF PUBLISHING A BOOK?

I wanted to question my role of editor from the beginning by adopting a sort of triangular approach to the hierarchy in terms of decision making. This triangle shifts around with the voice of the artist, designer or publisher taking a more active role at different points. Much of my practice as an artist or curator is concerned with the role of the facilitator in artistic production, and one where the facilitator can perhaps become less visible.

WHO ARE THE AUDIENCES FOR YOUR PUBLICATIONS? HOW ARE YOUR BOOKS DISTRIBUTED?

As the titles published through Coda Press are concerned with text as a medium within and as visual arts, it’s safe to say that our primary audience is an exhibition going public and those interested in exploring an artists practice beyond installation or more object based pieces. We distribute through regional art centre bookstores as well as internationally. Coda Press We also have a regular presence at numerous art book fairs and try to disseminate publications in collaboration with exhibition venues and spaces the artists have worked with or are collaborating with. I always ensure that the artists are offered a generous number of publications, often up to half of the print run, to distribute as they see fit.

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

I would like to publish an open call for artist fiction, with a focus on sciencefiction and horror as reflective thematics through which we can look at a sinister political thread that is becoming gradually more prevalent. I believe in commissioning new works and working on the development of the published matter from as early as possible in a collaborative project. I am in the middle of developing my residency (for Weekend Server) in Athens, through which any publications will be facilitated by Coda Press.

 


 

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