Worldview Machines: Speculative Design Histories Workshop by Pina and Biblioteka

Pina and Biblioteka are running a workshop at Nottingham Contemporary on Saturday 31 October, from 2pm to 5pm in Studio 1. It's called Worldview Machines: Speculative Design Histories, and it's aimed at students of fine art, curatorial studies, art history, design, architecture, media, animation and games art.

The session asks you to think of exhibitions and libraries as 'worldview machines'—spaces where knowledge is produced, organised and transmitted, and whose structures shape what counts as valid. It starts with the speculative design histories of early-modern libraries, taking Gabriel Naudé's 1644 Advice on Establishing a Library as a starting point, and then applies an anti-colonial, intersectional lens to look at the foundations laid by figures from the late Middle Ages. It's a seated, wheelchair-accessible workshop, so you'll be working from a chair rather than on your feet.

The two projects leading it come from different ends of the publishing world. Pina, founded in 2024, is a printed, portable exhibition space that commissions immersive 60-page exhibitions by artists, paired with short stories by writers. Biblioteka is an independent library of artists' publications based at the Architectural Association in London, holding over 10,000 books covering the last 30 years of art publishing. Together they bring a mix of contemporary artist-led publishing and a deep archive of art books to the table.

The workshop is led by Catalina Imizcoz, founder and editor of Pina, and Hlib Velyhorskyi, founder of Biblioteka. Entry is free, though the gallery asks for donations. It runs from 2pm to 5pm on Saturday 31 October in Studio 1 at Nottingham Contemporary.