The Silver Bulletin 2012.
The Silver Bulletin, issues 6–8
Christchurch
2012
The Silver Bulletin began in 2011 as a direct response to post-earthquake Christchurch—the city I was living in when, on 22 February 2011, an earthquake caused major damage to the central city, closing much of it for years and destroying or disabling the galleries, gig venues, coffee shops, and project spaces that had served as the usual venues for cultural exchange. I have edited, designed, and contributed to it since.
The Bulletin was conceived as a stand-in for those places: a venue, not tied to any single location and yet tangibly hold-in-your-hands, for the writing, interviews, and artist page-works that the arts community was still producing.
Five issues appeared across 2011; by issue #6, at the beginning of 2012, the publication was well established, and a growing sense of the editor’s role in shaping it led—most clearly in issues #7, #7.5, and #8—to its becoming a more overtly political project, spurred on by the inescapably political environment around it.
Launched at The Physics Room. The issue compares Christchurch to other cities that have undergone massive (re)development or shifts of identity—with particular emphasis on Pyongyang, and appearances by Brasília and East London—with articles by Metahaven, Eric Pawson, Laura Durham, James Voller, and myself, an interview with Tony de Lautour, and page works by de Lautour and Ella Sutherland. (See the article Out of the Shadows.)
Materials: Risograph, black and purple; edition of 500
Launched at Dog Park Art Project Space as part of This is an Invitation. Produced in direct response to the contents and editorial premise of #7, continuing to explore placelessness and the collective identity of a place, with articles by Andrew Dean, Barnaby Bennett, Laura Durham, and myself, transcripts of public talks by Bruce Russell and Judy Darragh, and page works by Sebastian Warne and Tjalling de Vries. (See the article Ways of Finding and Marking.)
Materials: Risograph, black and grey; edition of 500
Launched at Dog Park Art Project Space as part of This is an Invitation. The first issue to address post-earthquake Christchurch head on, with articles by Bruce Russell, Katie Pickles, Chloe Geoghegan, and myself, and page works by Tim Veling, James Oram, and Tjalling de Vries. (See the article Art Over Nature Over Art.)
Materials: Risograph, black, blue, and yellow; edition of 500
Launched at Infinite Definite. A broad overview of the cultural life of Christchurch a year on from the February 2011 earthquakes, with texts by Luke Wood, Hamish Win, and Andrew Paul Wood, an interview with Stephen Cleland, photographs by Tim Veling, and page works by Rob Hood and Oscar Enberg.
Materials: Risograph, black, pink, blue, and red; edition of 500
