Publication Studio, founded in 2009, is a publisher and producer of original books, handmade and on-demand, distributed through a global network of currently eleven studios on four continents. When a book is ordered, the nearest Studio has to take on production and shipping, thus to minimize expanses.

However, because a great part of artistic publishing depends on gatherings and events like art book fairs, Publication Studio Pearl River Delta and Publication Studio Rotterdam have produced a portable set of tools needed to produce their books right on the spot, which at the same time gives them the opportunity to showcase the production process as performance. What usually needs space, often in the form of a studio, like a hot glue binding machine or a cutting machine, is reduced to tools that fit into a rolling suitcase. The machinery’s weight and size are carefully calculated to minimize the cost of air travel.

Publication Studio Portable: A Mobile Publishing Manual consists, at its core, of a detailed description of how such a portable studio can be made and used to produce books. It also features theoretical and creative essays on the implications of the concept. A log at the very end of the publication lists all events where Publication Studio Portable was used, including Melbourne, Hong Kong, Guelph, and Rotterdam. The archived copy also bears an embossing of Publication Studio Rotterdam on its back as well as the stamped date of its manufacture at Friends with Books art book fair at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany: “20. SEP 2019.” These paratexts are essential to Publication Studio’s publishing practice.