X Marks the Bökship
^ Matt’s Gallery
42 – 44 Copperfield Road
Mile End
London E3 4RR

 

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Test Centre are Publisher of the Month at X Marks the Bökship throughout June 2015.

Test Centre is an independent publishing house and record label with an interest in the spoken and written word. Based in Hackney, East London, it was established in 2011 by Will Shutes and Jess Chandler. A selection of their books and records will be on display and for sale in the bookshop and several events are planned.

Launch of {Enthusiasm} by SJ Fowler
Wednesday 3 June 2015, 7 -9pm

{Enthusiasm} is the 7th poetry collection by poet, artist, curator and vanguardist SJ Fowler. It follows highly-acclaimed collections including The Rottweiler’s guide to the Dog Owner and Enemies: the selected collaborations of SJ Fowler.

The book’s 81 poems are intended as individual pieces in their own right, but are interlinked by subjects including battle and violence, infants and infancy, religion, economy and population, the self, modernity, and the past.

Fowler’s poetry is playful and allusive, international in its scope. His Enemies project, concerning the possibilities of poetry in collaboration, has curated over 70 events and 9 exhibitions in 13 nations – these possibilities feed into the possibilities of his texts, his awareness of different modes of expression. Likewise, {Enthusiasm} thrives upon the effect on language of modern modes of communication, and the book makes disarming use of accident, irony, and error.

A substantial collection, {Enthusiasm} marks a decisive step in Fowler’s tireless, expansive career.
Listen to Steven reading these poems

{Enthusiasm} by SJ Fowler
Published by Test Centre, 2015

£12 | £25 + p&p. 225 x 151mm. 96pp. Section sewn. Printed offset black throughout.
400 copies, 25 of which are signed and numbered and contain additional holograph material.
Printed by Artquarters Press
Designed by Traven T. Croves

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Tuesday 30 June 2015
Paul Buck's Pressed Curtains tapes
Test Centre Launch and Listening Event, 7 -9pm

On the 30th of June Test Centre will launch 'Paul Buck's Pressed Curtains Tape Project', a boxed set of 10 cassette tapes from Buck's archive, including material by Eric Mottram, Allen Fisher, Cris Cheek, Pierre Joris, Bill Griffiths, Jean-Luc Parant, Robert Kelly and Kathy Acker.

In the late 1970s Buck initiated a series of cassette releases tied to his magazines 'Curtains' and 'Twisted Wrist'. Of a projected series, only a couple saw the light of day, made to order from master tapes and given handwritten labels. Beyond these 2 tapes (by Eric Mottram and, in combination, Buck and Ulli McCarthy) lay far more extensive recordings of magazine contributors, friends and correspondents.

Some were recorded at Buck's home in Hebden Bridge, some were sent in correspondence, and others were recorded from public readings. A mixture of straight readings, performance pieces, or improvisations in the area of sound poetry, the archive is a unique collection which captures the experimentation and creative energies of an exciting and influential group of writers and performers.

X Marks the Bökship
^ Matt’s Gallery
42 – 44 Copperfield Road
Mile End
London E3 4RR