Not a ladder, but a field, 2026
Artist publication, edition of 14, hand finished

Not a ladder, but a field is a series of experimental publications developed and produced by the Associate cohort as part of the Print & Publishing module of the Associates Programme 2025–26. The module was devised and led by OSE Programme Producer and artist George Harding.

Across four weekly sessions, the Associates undertook a series of collaborative writing and reading exercises that drew on a range of artistic processes and approaches to publishing. The module channelled the critical thinking of James Langdon and the typohypergraphicobject project; the processes of ‘handing off’ utilised by the scribes of the scriptorium; the resourceful and reflective practices of the Situationist International and Stanley Brouwn; Samizdat publishing circles and DIY mailer networks; and the communal construction of spectacle explored by Paul Thek & the Artist Co-op.

Together, the cohort shared, read, and wrote about fragments of their own and each other’s artistic interests and research, building an interwoven archive of texts, images, and ideas that is presented as the printed ‘foundation’ of Not a ladder, but a field.

Taking this foundation, each associate held onto a single publication from the edition for a month preceding the installation of the Summer Exhibition 2026 and was invited to embellish its printed pages with their own additions, relevant to the work and research they had chosen to contribute to the exhibition.

The resulting fourteen unique, publications are a erratic reflection of the cohort drawing connections between each other’s work, meshing conversation, tangential thought, writing and images into an open field, seeping at the edges.