Trickle-Down Epistemology

In this instalment of What Is Critical Publishing?, writer, editor, and magazine collector Eric Otieno Sumba challenges the assumption that art books—and the ideas they carry—travel by themselves. Pointing to the coloniality of distributional networks and global logistics—and its deniability—he proposes a rethinking of distribution: instead of invisibilizing its processes, he argues, we should understand it as a labour of social and political determination and, as such, a central part of artistic and research production.