Artist-run Democracy: Sustaining a Model
This book looks back at fifteen years of 126 Artist-Run Gallery, which was established in Galway, Ireland, in 2005. All the events and exhibitions are presented in a long timeline, represented by an image, title, and the artist’s name.
The timeline is the core of the book: each year is marked on the left side of the page making a visual pattern on the outside pages. As the gallery was changing location five times over the years, that occurrence is visualized in the background color of the timeline: green, pink, beige, etc. Together with the editor we wanted to distinguish the location on the timeline.
The rhythm is disturbed by the essays written by the gallery directors, who share their insights and memories, including of their favourite shows. Exactly those exhibitions are represented with big pictures and occupy way more space than the regular timeline show. This treatment allows playing with the rhythm, image scale, and depth of information (small images, long text, big images, and so on).
The back part of the book showcases locations, various logos and their applications, lists of members and directors, and pictures from members’ events – this makes the appendix data-oriented.
In terms of typography, layouts are simple and blocky – resembling image placements on the timeline. Text block placement is rhythmical and plays with indents.
For paragraphs and headlines, Basier Circle was selected as it is well-legible and has an extended family of cuts. Basier Mono accompanies the main font, as a timeline year indicator, activating the page edge and making a decorative and effective pattern visible from outside when the book is closed.
The roundness of Basier’s characters is well aligned with the 126 Gallery logo, which is based on YWFT Ultramagnetic Regular. This bulky round font was used for the statistics numbers in the appendix and for the essay footnotes. Book sections were divided by black pages, with bold, big typography. As some section titles are long, Formula Condensed Bold was used, to ensure impact and legibility. It’s also visible in the table of contents.
The book was edited by Jim Ricks and designed by Gabriela Baka, with texts by Austin Ivers, Aideen Barry, Alwyn Revill, Jeroen van Dooren, Anne-Marie McKee, Shelly McDonnell, Lucy Elvis, Rita McMahon, Meadhbh McNutt, Simon Fennessy Corcoran, and Neil Mulholland.
Learn more about Artist-run Democracy: Sustaining a Model on the website of the publisher, Onomatopee.net. The proceeds of this book go directly to support the gallery – essential Galway arts infrastructure.
