Draft:TALKER

TALKER is a fanzine focusing on performance art. Each issue profiles a single artist through a long-form interview. The publication is edited, designed and distributed by artist and member of the Newcastle University Fine Art Department, Giles Bailey.

The TALKER interviews discuss process, formative work and live practice/cultures generally. They are lightly edited to ensure they keep the natural, fluid movement of conversation once edited and printed. Copies are held in the Tate archive and British Library.

To date, TALKER has featured the artists Ian White, Kate Valk, Richard Maxwell, Sue Tompkins, Dora García, Spalding Gray, Kathy Acker, Jo Fong, Paul Maheke, Clifford Owens, Gustav Metzger, Barby Asante, Miranda July and Agus Nur Amal PMTOH.

The publication is Riso printed by Footprint Workers Cooperative in Leeds.

History
Since 2016, 13 issues of TALKER have been published. All the interviews were conducted by Giles Bailey with the exception of issue #5 featuring Spalding Gray and Kathy Acker. The content for this is the transcription of an event at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London that took place on 5 February 1987 as part of the gallery's IN CONVERSATION series.

The issue of TALKER featuring Gustav Metzger is separated from the numbered series and styled as (TALKER). This is because the interview was conducted before the project began in earnest and was not initially conceived as a conversation about performance.

In 2022 TALKER received Connections through Culture UK-Southeast Asia 2022-2023 Grant from the British Council to support the production of issue #12 with Agus Nur Amal PMTOH.