Who We Are, What We Do

bookRoom is a research cluster, founded in 2004 by Anna Fox and Emmanuelle Waeckerlé at the University for the Creative Arts. bookRoom investigates the ways in which photographic, graphic and textual works have been disseminated by printed and digital methods.  Key issues about design, structure and editorial control are explored through the making and debating of new works.

bookRoom promotes institutionally, nationally and internationally, a community of practice that advances book art in the digital age at the interface of photographic, graphic and text based interventions.

bookRoom focuses on critical and practice based research into the concept of the book as art work in digital, analogue and hybrid formats.

bookRoom supports researchers to engage with cultural, artistic and creative production, debate and dissemination of on the page works, embedded in an inclusive and innovative research culture and environment.

Aims

- To develop and promote new creative and interdisciplinary research at the interface of Photography, Design and Digital Media.

- To disseminate resultant knowledge through publication, exhibitions, conferences and teaching.

- To build upon and develop productive links and collaborations with other research initiatives nationally and internationally, in academic and non-academic contexts.

- To develop and foster mutually fruitful/nurturing relationships between research and teaching so that new knowledge can inform and enhance the student learning experience, drive new developments in undergraduate and postgraduate education and inform emergent research initiatives.

- The cluster acts as an umbrella organisation with it’s own Board to manage a number of interrelated activities.

Move to relevant pages:

bookRoom study days

bookRoom has developed a reputation for delivering high quality debate, through its unique annual study days, bringing together international contributors, established researchers, contemporary artists, photographers, curators, undergraduate and postgraduate students around a particular theme. Book Time and Written in the Margins (February 2011), Once Upon Time (March 2009) – Land and Space Talks (April 2008) – IN print (November 2006) – A Case of Books (June 2006) - Pasar página: presente y futuro de las revistas de fotografía – MUVIM museum – Valencia (December 2008 ).

Contributors

Include Jem Southam (artist/photographer), David Spero (photographer), Dr Helen Sear (reader in photography / artist), Sarah Pickering (photographer), Simon Watney (writer / photo historian), Erik Kessels ( kesselskrammer publishing), Iain Sinclair (writer) , Martin Parr (photographer), Gerry Badger (photo historian / curator / writer), Professor Val Williams (writer / curator / Director of the University of the Arts London Research Centre for Photography and the Archive), Ivan Vartanian (writer / editor), Sunil Gupta (photographer / curator)…..

bookRoom Press

Established since October 2010, the Press provides unique facilities combining traditional print and production technology with the latest digital developments to produce book and on the page work. It is dedicated to enabling new practice, by research staff as well as postgraduate students from the Photography, Design and Fine Art courses in Farnham. The Press offers the opportunity to experiment with designs and processes in a specialist environment and is set up to encourage research and innovation in the field.

Collection

bookRoom has a growing collection of ‘bookworks’ by recent graduates, cluster members, visiting artists and contributors. This collection is a valuable teaching and research resource for internal and external students, staff and researchers at all levels of the community. The collection is now housed in the UCA library at Farnham and is accessible via the online catalogue.

Book fairs

bookRoom promotes its activities at a number of international fairs including the Whitechapel book fair. Works have been sold to various collections including the V&A, Women’s Library, British Library, Poetry Library and the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris.

bookRoom board

Professor Anna Fox (photographer) Emmanuelle Waeckerlé (artist, senior lecturer in Photography), Stephen Bull (photographer, course leader in Photography), Jane Cradock Watson (Associate Dean School of Media & Culture), Jamie Dobson (Associate Dean for Postgraduate and Research), Helen Bacon (librarian), Richard Sawdon-Smith (photographer, Head of Arts & Media Department, London South Bank University), Gordon Mc Donald (curator / photographer / Head of Publications at Photoworks)

Annual Membership to join bookRoom and use bookRoom press facilities can be made through the website for a small annual fee.

A PDF version of our mission statement can be downloaded here