Our frequent co-publisher Agony Klub is launching Friend Poems, a collection including work by Colin Osler, Kay Higgins, Tiziana La Melia, Steffanie Ling, and Casey Wei, at the Printed Matter Virtual Art Book Fair. Register for the online launch now!
Friend Poems: Launch & Reading – Friday, February 26 5pm Pacific Time
Join Agony Klub and Publication Studio Vancouver for the launch of Friend Poems with readings by contributors Kay Higgins, Tiziana La Melia, Steffanie Ling, Colin Osler, and Casey Wei. Readings will be followed by a brief discussion about process and context, and a Q&A with the contributors.
Copies of Friend Poems will be available through http://agonyklub.com
and https://bookmachine.ca and at the Printed Matter Virtual Art Book Fair.
This event will be in the format of a Zoom webinar, live from the unceded Coast Salish territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.
Register for the online launch now!
Preorder the book for C$20 plus shipping
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CASEY WEI is an interdisciplinary artist, musician, and writer based in Vancouver. Her practice has evolved from filmmaking (Murky Colors [2012], Vater und Sohn / Father and Son / 父与子 [2013]), into works that cross over between art, music, and the community at large (Kingsgate Mall Happenings [2014], Chinatown Happenings [2015], the Karaoke Music Video Free Store [2017], the art rock? concert series [2015-2018], which resulted in the film, art rock? The Popular Esoteric [2018]). In 2016, she began Agony Klub, a music and printed matter label that releases material under the framework of the “popular esoteric.” She plays in the music project Kamikaze Nurse and sometimes produces music videos and texts under the alias Karen Zolo. She is also co-founder and editor at ReIssue.pub, and founder and ED of Artworld Software.
COLIN OSLER is an interdisciplinary artist and musician based in Vancouver, BC. His work is informed by themes of cultural phenomena, memory recall and nostalgia. He will be graduating from Emily Carr University with a BFA in Critical + Cultural Practices this Spring.
KAY HIGGINS is an artist and cultural worker based in Vancouver. She was a co-founder of Artspeak Gallery and the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres, is co-proprietor (with Kathy Slade) of the artist press Publication Studio Vancouver and was Executive Director of the artist-run space UNIT/PITT Projects from 2010-2019. She is currently Head of Publishing at the Libby Leshgold Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art + Design and Editor of ECU Press. Her work has included manufactured publications, handmade artist books, public inscription, photography, and internet-based projects. She has been a curator, editor, factory and warehouse labourer, technology consultant, and candidate for municipal office.
STEFFANIE LING is a cultural worker and guest living on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. She is currently organizing Marx study groups on Discord and researching New Work Poetry, Situationist comic strips, and Soviet era animation. Her books are NASCAR (Blank Cheque, 2016) and CUTS OF THIN MEAT (Spare Room, 2015). A forthcoming chapbook with House House Press (Montreal, 2021) is called MIXED MARTIAL ARTS.
TIZIANA LA MELIA was born in Palermo (IT) and raised on an orchard-garden situated on unceded Syilx (Okanangan) territory. Her artistic practice aims for holistic and non-binary considerations of matter, environment, ecology, memory, storytelling, place and language transformed into poetry, painting, collaborations, video, drawing, and installation. She is working on a new project titled The Simple Life: Country Mouse, City Mouse, Hamster – mixing personal chronicles, Aesop fable and reality television. Upcoming exhibitions and projects include Fly Robin Fly, Mecenes du Sud, Montpellier-Sete, Montpellier (FR), Comics Trip, Collection Lambert, Avignion (FR), Global Cows 2020, Images Festival, Toronto, and a book of her poetry translated into Italian, edited by Sonia D’Alto and Archive Books (Berlin/Milan).