About us
Why do you publish? What are your aims?
We publish because we like the printed form, its whole process of printing and the projects we select. Our aim is to contribute to a critical reflection and thought on both contemporary art and graphic design, through the production and documentation of artistic and design projects which fly under the institutional and media radar.
What are your main concerns towards the audience?
Who do you publish for?
Ideally we are publishing to an ever-growing public, but for the time being we are able to reach 150 buyers. However limited by such small print runs, we make our best efforts in guaranteeing that its distribution is as large as possible, so that it can go well beyond the circle of our closest acquaintances and reach further publics, including abroad.
How do you select the people with whom you work?
We select those people which we find interesting. And we work with them in a thorough collaboration, from the very conception of the proposal to the final execution and supervision at the printer.
What is your average print run?
It has been always between 100 and 150 copies.
How do you distribute your publications?
Self-distribution. We try to sell as much as possible in the release events we organize ourselves, but we also leave a few copies in several special shops and venues, we exchange some others with similar projects abroad, and we take email/internet orders.
What is the financial support?
We accept sponsorship proposals and any other kind of financial support, but our project is built on two main presuppositions: the BF project is self-sustained and, therefore, its lifespan cannot be dependent upon external financial support. So any accepted collaboration in the publication of a project, whether from institutions or private individuals, will occur always with no conditions to the principles and goals that constitute the philosophy and origin of the publisher.
Historical
Libraries / Collections
— Arnolfini (library), Bristol, UK
— BAS/Bend (collection), Istanbul, Turkey
— CAC – Contemporary Art Centre (Reading Room),
Vilnius, Lithuania
— Centre Pompidou (Bibliothèque Kandinsky), Paris, France
— Centro Cultural Montehermoso (Centro de Documentación – Mediateca), Vitoria, Spain
— de Apple (Library & Archive), Amsterdam, the Netherlands
— Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade Do Porto
(library), Porto, Portugal
— Fundação de Serralves (library), Porto, Portugal
— Het Wilde Weten (library), Rotterdam,the Netherlands
— Jan van Eyck Academie (library), Maastricht, the Netherlands
— MACBA (Centre d'estudis), Barcelona, Spain
— Spike Island (library), Bristol, UK
— Stedelijk Museum (library), Amsterdam, the Netherlands
— Stroom (library), Den Haag, the Netherlands
Conferences
2010
— 13 March 2010
Workshop "Samizdat", FBAUL, Lisboa, Portugal
Exhibitions
2010
— 20 November 2009 to 25 April 2010
"El mal d'escriptura. Un projecte sobre text i imaginació especulativa", MACBA, Barcelona, Spain
Book fairs
2010
— 6 and 7 February 2010
"WildBookMarket", Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam, Netherlands
— 22 to 25 April 2010
"Arts Libris", Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona, Spain
Book launches
2007
— 19 September 2007
BF 1 Wanda
(Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal)
2008
— 10 July 2008
BF 3 Uma Obra sem Qualidades
(Passos Manuel, Porto, Portugal)
— 13 September 2008
BF 4 Minor Breast
BF 5 River Avon
BF 6 Looking at the Sun
BF 7 our day will come
(Spike Island, Bristol, UK)
— 20 September 2008
BF 4 Minor Breast
BF 5 River Avon
BF 6 Looking at the Sun
BF 7 our day will come
(Inc. livros e edições de autor, Porto, Portugal)
— 19 October 2008
BF 8 S/he is her/e
(Chiado 8, Lisboa, Portugal)
2009
— 9 January 2009
BF 9 Design em Tempos de Crise
(Passos Manuel, Porto, Portugal)
— 10 April 2009
BF 11 Jotta Dossier
(Bar Tulipe, Porto, Portugal)
— 7 May 2009
BF 9 Design em Tempos de Crise (2nd edition) + conference (Mário Moura)
(FBAUL, Lisboa, Portugal)
— 22 May 2009
BF 14 The Airotiv Papers
(Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria, Spain)
— 27 May 2009
BF 9 Design em Tempos de Crise (2nd edition) + conference (Mário Moura)
(Escola Universitária das Artes de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal)
— 4 July 2009
BF 16 Mostruário de horas tecidas em ambientes pesados resultando em diferentes padrões estéticos
BF 17 Bar introspectivo ocupado (cultura em potência)
("Emissores Reunidos" Ep. 01, Serralves, Old RDP Radio Station, Porto, Portugal)
— 9 September 2009
BF 19 Um livro é uma forma de acção possível
("O que é urgente mostrar", EXD Design '09, Lounging Space, Lisboa, Portugal)
— 11 December 2009
BF 14 The Airotiv Papers
BF 18 Biografia de uma praticante invisível. Tocha Acesa
BF 19 Um livro é uma forma de acção possível
BF 20 Ámanhã 1909–2009
BF 21 Visita guiada à carcaça de uma baleia de nove hectares disposta nas margens do rio Ave
(Passos Manuel, Porto, Portugal)
— 19 December 2009
BF 14 The Airotiv Papers
(The Barber Shop, Lisboa, Portugal)
2010
— 12 February 2010
BF 13 Economia do Artista
(Banco de Portugal – Filial do Porto, Porto, Portugal e Passos Manuel, Porto, Portugal)
— 1 April 2010
BF 22 Navio Vazio (a)
BF 23 Papores
(Navio Vazio, Porto, Portugal)