
Publishing and bookbinding terminology
abounds in bodily metaphors and vocabulary
borrowed from choreography, like dos à dos
(‘back-to-back’) or tête-bêche (‘head-to-toe’).
This dual meaning underscores publishing’s
intrinsic connection to materiality–of printed
matter and the writer’s/ reader’s physicality–
and oers a premise for the exploration of the
relationship between texts and bodies.
Taking place across two afternoons, this
programme charts an expanded eld of
publishing and strings together a series of
diverse contributions that in some places touch
each other.
The project was organised by Alicja
Melzacka, O the Grid’s curator-in-residence
and coincided with Druk In Leuven, a word
and text festival at various locations in the city.
• Alicja Melzacka, ‘Smudged-glass writing’,
reading and discussion group
• Jeroen Peeters, ‘A table’, lecture-
performance
• Clara Amaral, ‘Do you remember that time
we were together and danced this or that
dance?’, performance
• Francesca Hawker, ‘Into Eels’, table-read
• Reinier Vrancken, ‘Teeth Surrounding a
Flower in the Meanings’, conversation
• Martha Jager (Dear,) & Isabelle Sully
(Unbidden Tongues), ‘Messy Keynote’, talk
• Henry Andersen, ‘DS’, reading
• Kate Briggs, ‘The Long Form’, passages
translated by Will Holder
• Playbill (Martha Jager & Isabelle Sully),
‘Budget Statements 2022’, performance
Back-to-back: perspectives on
artists’ writing and publishing
27-28.04.2024
O-the-Grid, Cas-co, Leuven
programme with Henry Andersen,
Clara Amaral, Francesca Hawker, Will
Holder, Martha Jager, Jeroen Peeters,
Isabelle Sully, and Reinier Vrancken
documentation by Jente Waerzeggers
[more information]
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