HumDrum Press

HumDrum Press is a soon-to-be experimental publishing imprint and expanded publishing practice that works, through collaborative means, to question the boundaries of “publishing” – publishing here understood as praxis, methodology, physical outcome, artistic & design practice, and research discipline – and experiment with developing more horizontal, sustainable, and public models of publishing. In doing so, HumDrum Press wishes to explore new, connected ways of documenting and disseminating voices, ideas, and contexts, and better understand the role of publishing and publisher within current political, economic, and ecological climates.

 

Though the printed pamphlet is our preferred form for publishing, we remain eager and interested in understanding publishing through a manifold of diverse formats and communication types, including, but not limited to: essay, novella, manual, manifesto, letter, blueprint, poetry, photography, illustration, performance, conversation, sketch, installation and more, and as individual, collective, or accumulative publishing instances.

 

At the heart of HumDrum Press is the understanding of publishing as a commons, and publishing as public, or community, good. The imprint is therefore shaped and shared by our network of collaborating individuals, organizations, and institutions. Our aim is to build and maintain a publishing home of such networks and knowledges, from both temporary and longer-term collaborators and partners to create a supportive, sustainable print framework and accompanying series of live programmed events.

 

Through the work of the core HumDrum team, in partnership with our expanded network of friends and collaborators, we seek to activate live events, visual communication, the written form, and subscription-based formats to reimagine the artistic and societal role and value of printed press.

 

Bio

HumDrum Press is composed of Wibke Bramesfeld (Graphic Designer), Amy Gowen (Editor and Researcher) and Andy Norstrom (Events Coordinator), as well as our growing network of writers, artists, musicians, thinkers, friends, and collaborators. 

 

Together, we seek to question the boundaries of publishing as outcome, method, and practice, and explore the relationship between the sharing of new and radical ideas with live events, visual communication, and the written form, through a community focussed, commons based model.

People

Andy Norstrom

Amy Gowen, a curator, writer, and editor living in Rotterdam. She graduated from the MA Arts and Society at Utrecht University in 2019. Since then she has worked for Onomatopee Projects as City Curator and Publications Editor, where she initiated the Meeting Grounds public programme and publication series and curated the Rights of Way exhibition. She now works as a festival programmer for the International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam, and as publications manager for the School of Commons in Zürich, Switzerland, where she was also a 2021 READ research fellow.