Explored by many graphic designers’ and artists’ collectives for more than a decade, “alternative approaches to the production of printed objects” bring together design approaches that attempt to free themselves from the domination of standard (expensive and non-free) software tools for editorial design in order to experience a kind of reclaimed autonomy. The rooting of these experiences in free software approaches, in hacking practices, in the thought of the commons and in the logic of knowledge sharing allow artists and graphic designers to inscribe at the heart of their practices a political and ethical commitment, taking part in an aesthetic emancipation as much as in a desire to control and re-enchant the digital.
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XX2 is a research experiment conducted in the context of the 22nd accès)s( festival, DESIGN DES SIGNES, De l'œuvre à l'usage by Julien Bidoret in connection with the PrePostPrint initiative.
PrePostPrint is a network of individuals and collectives who develop experimental publishing logics to produce graphic objects: publications, books, zines, posters, but also websites and tools. PrePostPrint shares resources and projects made with free / hacked / DIY tools, highlights alternative approaches to traditional publishing workflows, and promotes experimentation, sharing, documentation and the use of open licenses. In October 2022, a maintenance group was formed and is now working to re-imagine the identity and role of the initiative.
On the invitation of accès)s(, xx2 proposes to accompany the experience of this renewal of PrePostPrint by exploring on screen and in printable forms the experiments that are taking place, the relationships that exist within this network and beyond.