DIY publishing + Non-Conforming Criticisms

Join slow+dirty press and performingborders for an afternoon of printing, binding and discussion about the potential of DIY publishing within the performance ecology and the distribution of non-conforming criticisms.

We will learn how to use a Risograph, print the covers of our upcoming ‘Nonconfirming Criticisms' publication, made up of texts by contributors to the Live Art Writers Network project, and spend time binding this publication together. As we do this, we will discuss the potential of using independent publishing as a form of performative criticism and explore all the ways our creative critical texts can exist beyond magazines, newspapers and institutionalised platforms.

This is a gathering open to all, we welcome artists, thinkers, writers and critics interested in DIY approaches to publishing and publishing as a performative practice. Everyone who comes will leave with a free copy of our publication with contributions by: Pedro Vilela, Leticia Maia, HUSS, Ed Freitas, Fargo Nissim Tabakhi, Season Butler & Diana Damian Martin.

About the event series:
Non-Conforming Criticisms is a free programme dedicated to experimental, critical, and politically engaged writing in response to live art and performance, created by performingborders and Diana Damian Martin. We are running two events at House of Annetta and MayDay Rooms, in London, where everyone will be invited to participate in the creation of a publication, learn about DIY publishing, and engage in discussions around critical writing, experimental creative practice, and political and organising work.

See more informatoin HERE + book for the other event on the 23rd of March: Nonconforming Criticisms, featuring a discussion and presentations by Diana Damian Martin, Maddy Costa, Jemma Desai, Juliet Jaques and performingborders.

ACCESS:
BSL interpretation can be provided for these events upon request. If you would like to access BSL interpretation, email us at performingborderslive@gmail.com.

To allow us time to confirm an interpreter, we require at least two weeks’ notice. We can therefore guarantee BSL interpretation only for requests made by 8 March 2026.

Venue information, see here. Please note that there are uneven stairs in this venue, and it is not wheelchair accessible (no lift access)

slow+dirty press is a work-in-progress queer feminist  community press currently in residence at House of Annetta (London, UK) a hub for spatial justice work. We've come together to find out what could be when a press is founded on resource sharing, mutual support, companionship, comadreo, transmission, circulation, political alliances, multi-disciplinarity and collectivised knowledge. We are interested in creating community infrastructure that provides space to seed interconnected autonomous print projects.

performingbordersis a collectively run platform for artistic research and creation, centred on notions and lived experiences of intersectional borders through live art and performance practices. performingborders is a knowledge-sharing platform created in dialogue with its contributors. Since 2016 performingborders has woven a digital and live tapestry of interconnected, cross-border experiments through interviews, artist commissions, open calls, publications, residencies, workshops, conversations, events, newsletters, and pamphlets – all freely accessible online. Co-run by Alessandra Cianetti, Xavier de Sousa and Anahí Saravia Herrera.