White Fungus is an art magazine based in Taichung City, Taiwan. Founded by brothers Ron and Mark Hanson in Wellington, in 2004, as a quasi political manifesto, copies of the first issue were produced on a photocopier, wrapped in Christmas paper and hurled anonymously through the entrances of businesses throughout the city. The name of the publication comes from a can of “white fungus” the Hansons found in their local supermarket in the industrial zone of Taichung City, Taiwan in 2003. Each cover of White Fungus is derived from a scan of the can. Dispersed through the internet and inter-disciplinary art events, White Fungus is as much an experiment in distribution and dissemination as it is in art publishing.
The 12th issue of White Fungus is 162 pages of concentrated art. It includes an in-depth interview with Carolee Schneemann, accompanied by artworks spanning her career. It has interviews with the Taipei artist Yao Jui-chung, Beijing noise artist Yan Jun and New York composer Annea Lockwood, discussing her composition ‘In Our Name’, built around excerpts of poetry written by prisoners while incarcerated without trial at Guantanamo Bay.
The issue features a history article about nuclear testing in the Pacific leading up to the Rainbow Warrior bombing by the French Government. There are articles on the artists Chen Chieh-jen (Taipei), Simon Denny (Berlin) and Tao Wells (Nelson), and the New York composers Pauline Oliveros and David First, plus a history of Taiwanese electronic music by Jeph Lo.
There are paintings by Robin Williams, profiles of the Brooklyn artist-run space Cinders and the independent Taiwan gallery Z, and poems by Jumah al Dossari, Anne Fiero and Colin James. There is a review of Tiqqun’s This is Not a Program and Introduction to Civil War, recently republished by Semiotex(e), new commissioned comics by Tim Bollinger and Barry Linton, plus an article, ‘Anarchy and Art’, by Richard Livermore, which challenges evolutionary models of thinking and orthodox Marxist revolutionary thought.
Also it comes with a CD including live recordings of the New Zealand artists Our Love Will Destroy the World (Campbell Kneale) and David Watson with Sean Meehan from an event White Fungus held in 2010 in New York at the gallery P.P.O.W.
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Alaska Editions collates the best of previously unpublished contemporary photography, both from established and emerging image makers around the world. Each issue changes in format, pushing the two elements of traditional book binding and modern print technology to the highest of levels. Ultimately created to challenge boundaries and urge the exploration of new and unfamiliar territory in contemporary photographic art. Alaska is now published by Sanderson Studios.
Issue #3 brought together the work of 6 international artists in an individually numbered edition of 33 copies worldwide. Printed on bible paper and bound using a traditional hand-stitched Japanese technique. The Alaska team remained true to their core values; pushing the two elements of traditional book binding and modern print technology to the highest of levels. Ultimately created to challenge boundaries and urge the exploration of new unfamiliar territory in contemporary photographic art.
The selected artists for this issue are: Daido Moriyama (Japan), Dan Holdsworth (UK), Todd Hido (US), Ben Adams (UK), Guido Baselgia (Switzerland) and Thobias Faldt (Sweden).
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folio is a new publication edited and designed by Merve Kaptan and Charlie Coffey. The Magazine seeks to operate as an exhibition space on paper presenting the work of several artists per issue. folio is particularly keen to offer a future platform for three-dimensional, time-based and de-materialised work to be realised on the flat page.
Selected either by open submission or invitation, artists respond to the printed format and participate in a collaborative editorial process. In every issue, a new guest editor works to bring influences from other disciplines including music, architecture and writing.
folio issue 1 is guest edited by Francesca Banchelli and contributing artists are Edward Salem, Yunji Park, Annabel Banks, Chloë Østmo and Emiliano Zelada.
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