Hildegard Press
is for the collection and distribution of printed matter concerned with the periphery, the marginal, and the outside, in order to make the edge the centre of focus.
The press draws inspiration from the 12th century mystical nun Hildegard von Bingen, who produced botanical works, music, epiphanic visions, as well as inventing languages and writing esoteric philosophy. Hildegard Press aims to publish reflections on outsider or mystical practices, archival texts, as well as providing space for artists and writers to produce publications that fall outside the scope of their professional practice. Attending to fringe and experimental ideas, the printed matter produced attempts to locate the edges of things from the outside and reveal invisible boundaries and re-imagined spaces.
DICTIONARY: Of Terms Relating to the Edges, Divisions, Boundaries, and Borders of Things, Etc.
The first publication in the Hildegard Press series is a dictionary that establishes the definitions and etymologies of terms related to edges, divisions, boundaries, and borders. The dictionary seeks to outline the language used to define where one thing ends and another thing begins. A web of “See also:” referents link the terms to each other in order to produce a network of language that is commonly used to divide objects, worlds, political entities, metaphysical subjects, and bodies.
Hildegard Press 01, 2023 | perfect bound, 5x7”, digital print, 116 pp, red and black | edition of 100 | $25
GEOMANCY: A Handbook of Practice and Interpretation
Geomancy is an ancient form of divination that is practiced by making a series of random marks that are then counted into sets of odd or even sequences. Following a binary logic, the odd or even collections result in a possible sixteen figures that can be used for interpretation. The divinatory reading applies a process of mathematical recursion to these figures in order to arrive at a final answer to the query. Drawing on a range of historical sources, this handbook covers the general principles of the geomantic method, its mythological origin, the interpretation of the figures, and provides a blank “shield” for conducting your own geomantic reading.
Hildegard Press 02, 2023 | saddle stitch, 5x7”, digital print, 24 pp, purple and black | edition of 100 | $10
EMMA KUNZ: The Polarized Calendula Blooms
In 1953, the Swiss mystic, healer, and artist Emma Kunz conducted an experiment on calendula flowers growing in her medicinal garden. With the aid of a pendulum she applied a process she termed “polarization” whereby the form of the flowers were altered in order to produce additional blooms following a numerical sequence. This publication explores Kunz’s practice and intentions, the process of polarization, number symbolism, and the contextual implications of the era. An appendix provides a summary of historical and medicinal uses of the calendula flower.
Hildegard Press 03, 2023 | saddle stitch, 5x7”, digital print, 28 pp, yellow and black | edition of 100 | $10
WARNINGS: Kevin Romaniuk
In WARNINGS, Vancouver based artist Kevin Romaniuk draws from his vast photographic collection to explore a variety of sinister warning signs: painted placards, graffiti, tattoos, strange locations, and abandoned artifacts. These found images indicate a threshold, one that when crossed, might lead towards impending danger, violence, stringent ideology, or obliteration. Interspersed with images of cataclysmic natural disasters, the pages of WARNINGS foretell an ominous future, while also revealing a freedom afforded to those who occupy the fringes of society during these end times.
Kevin Romaniuk's work explores histories of counter-culture, the occult, stoner mysticism, and outsider knowledge. In addition to his visual practice, Romaniuk also collaboratively runs B.C HYDRA, the ASL, and Rub out the Scum (R.O.T.S), groups dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of rock and roll, freedom of thought, and the wasted.
Hildegard Press 04, 2023 | saddle stitch, 5x7”, digital print, 28 pp, pink and black | edition of 100 | $10
TITLES COMING SOON:
Hildegard Press 05 - MINOR CHARACTERS: Bopha Chhay
Hildegard Press is an artist publishing project by Lyndl Hall
This project was supported by the
Canada Council for the Arts.
