BRIDGET ELMER, JANELLE REBEL, MARSHALL WEBER 135

We’ve talked a lot about how this show could be a kind of beta test for
this model of an outside organization like Booklyn becoming a catalyst for
a very regional, campus-specific experience. Marshall, are you imagining
that you’ll move this model to other places? Are there things that you will
definitely do as we modeled them? Or other things that you would change,
based on the experience?

MW: In part this show evidences Booklyn’s current focus on collaborations
with schools and social—justice organizations as sources of creative
publishing. I feel that this entire experience made me want to move even
further away from passive social commentary towards artists’ books
focused on active social practice and even direct political action.

It sharpened my commitment to establish a more definitive pedagogy
when working with schools at every level, from preschools to universities.
It made me reconfirm Booklyn’s goal of going beyond the distribution of
work for activist artists and using that mechanism to support social—justice
organizations, to form networks of artists, educators, and institutions.

I think this show was instructive for further defining how to realize these
intentions. So yes, we would like to see it happen at other institutions.

I think the Ringling College show provides a good template for this.

Staff and faculty were courageous in adopting that model and really

tried to realize it fully. And Iwould love to see more academic libraries

and galleries give that a try. I’m super excited and curious to see what
follow-up publications you and your students and staff produce next.

BE: Me too. I am grateful to both ofyou for all of the work and risks
that you took with me. I feel really excited about what we’ve modeled—
both for our institution, because I hope to keep working in this way,
interdepartmentally, and also what this potentially models on a larger
scale. So thank you so much.