For this exhibition at The NewBridge Project, Document H.E.T. focuses on alternative living, community action, and autonomous struggles. The gallery becomes a space to gather and explore the collection of 1970s to 1990 dissident print culture, forming a backdrop for a public programme on solidarity today.
Document H.E.T. exists primarily – and perhaps ironically – online, as a study of the power of print in shaping collective consciousness before Web 1.0. The printed matter on display moves from inner-city squatting and grassroots organising, to intentional communities (including co-ops and communes), alternative technology, self-sufficiency and co-existence with nature. Spanning DIY pamphlets to bound journals, they reflect the range of printing methods used at the time, including the portable mimeograph, offset lithography, and coin operated Xerox photocopying.
As office printing equipment developed, thinkers and agitators followed in the shadows using outdated printer models or taking advantage of second-hand ‘home printers’, setting up co-ops, advice centres and print shops. The publications are a result of people working in solidarity, thinking locally and critically to reclaim aspects of life from systems that seek to control.
The exhibition spotlights “info catalogues,” which functioned as a kind of Yellow Pages or “How to!” for the alternative scene and a precursor to internet search engines. These “info” services – covering topics such as altered states of consciousness, liberation struggles, food growing and psychological resources – aimed to connect small-scale publishing initiatives and grassroots communities to broader networks with regional, national, and international reach. This international connectivity was a defining feature of the era, and print played a crucial role in fostering a global, shared commitment to social and cultural liberation.