On January 26th, we will officially release the 11th issue of UQ. To celebrate the efforts of our team members and contributors, we‘ll be hosting a LAUNCH PARTY at Kiosk N1C. Come and get a drink!
Doors open from - 2:00 Official Launch event - 6:00 Combining the works of international artists and practioners, the milestone tenth issue of ‘Unknown Quantities’ explores the theme of “saturation”. The term saturation is used to refer to the masses of information and data online. UQ10 questions the effects of that on its users. Get free tickets at the link.
UQ is a yearly student-led project. The core principle of UQ as a creative experiment lies in its non-hierarchical relationship between engaging design and intellectually driven approaches to publication. As such, its unofficial slogan is “academic thinking, not academic writing”. In 2020 our theme for the 8th issue of UQ is embodied in the prefix “Re-”, which symbolises the process of rethinking the past, acting on the present, and shaping the future. Our aim is to engage with various practices and industries to explore the issues of adaptability, reflection, creativity, responsibility and innovation. Due to the pandemic, this year's publication relies on pre-orders to fund printing. By donating £10, you will pre-order an issue of UQ8 which will be delivered to you by the end of the year. Our current goal of £1,500 is the minimum amount needed for printing and distribution needs. By purchasing this publication, you are not only obtaining an engaging and beautifully designed product, but are also supporting the hard work and future career opportunities of everyone involved in this project, whether they be a contributor, an editor or a designer.
Inspired by the notion of fluidity in all its iterations – fluidity of process, of identity, of thought, of motive – Unknown Quantities 7 present a publication that expands the solid realms of publishing itself, through an eclectic collection of works and articles. From metaphoric portraiture and generative typography to plasma physics and contemplative essays, UQ 7 presents a rich tapestry of works created by practitioners in varied fields. As the works collide and conspire the fluency of subject matter is traversed and the form and functions of publications are probed. Please reserve a ticket to guarantee a space.
In 2018 a group of designers and curators joined together to co-edit a publication. The result of this collaboration was the issue 6 Space/Place of Unknown Quantities. The issue presents a collection of written and visual works which examine notions of space and place, which affect our experience of the world.
Driven by the intention to expend the space of the book to the space of the gallery, Julia Gros, curator and co-author of Unknown Quantities 6, envisioned a second take of the project by giving a spatial turn to the publication. She articulated the work of the contributors in order to broaden the perspective on their relation to space in their disciplines. The space of Magma is then turned into an exhibition that invites you to enter a new dimension of the publication by engaging with films, visual installations, photography and research documents. The visitors and the readers of Unknown Quantities can thus explore further the contributors’ research and practice.
Join us for the launch of Unknown Quantities 6 at Burley Fisher Books, Haggerston’s independent bookshop. “Place is security, space is freedom: we are attached to the one and long for the other.” Yi-Fu Tuan This issue of UQ focuses on an overarching theme of space and place. In this publication we invite you to navigate through a collection of written and visual works from a wide range of contributors who raised social and political concerns as well as developed a critical reflection on culture and identity. FREE
FREE ENTRY (PLEASE RSVP AS SPACE IS LIMITED) It's here! We are excited to announce that UQ5 will be officially launching this week at Travelling Through bookshop in Waterloo. Now, in its fifth issue, UQ is a concept-based journal that bridges graphic design, critical writing and visual art. UQ5 focuses on the idea of the "peripheral" both as a subject and as a direction, bringing together contributions from the team and external commissions from artists, writers and practitioners. "Peripheral" is a method to observe the world, working as a lens to explore several forms of content through different interrelated fields, such as culture, art and science. Please join us for a drink and come and look over/purchase the new issue with friends.
*Free entry, but please reserve a ticket above to guarantee a place as space is limited.* This year's issue of UQ is titled intimacy. It collects a multitude of voices to express the difficulty in grasping a universal understanding of intimacy in today’s context. Poets, writers, artists, and practitioners each approached the topic in their own way, bringing fresh perspectives to ask us to reflect on the way we connect with each other. At the book launch, invited contributors will read and share their work.
Issue III of UQ is an investigation into the subject of normality viewed from the perspectives of ten individuals. The resulting collection of essays, interviews, poetry and photographs, respond to the notions of “normality” and “normal life”. We are hosting a publication launch of Issue III on 17th December 2015 as a part of a series of events celebrating the AHRC 10th Anniversary debate Books and the Human at Central Saints Martins. Join us for a drink and the opportunity to purchase all three issues of Unknown Quantities.
