Broadside

The broadside is one of the oldest forms of printed media, emerging in Europe shortly after Gutenberg's press in the mid-fifteenth century. Printed on a single large sheet and intended to be posted publicly or sold cheaply in the street, it was the mass communication technology of its age—the social media of the early modern period. Broadsides carried ballads, proclamations, sensational news, political satire, and execution confessions. They were deliberately ephemeral, designed to be read once and discarded, or pasted to a wall for passersby to gather around. Broadside the organisation takes its name from this tradition, reflecting its commitment to the intersection of print, politics, and public life. Three years on from its founding, Broadside will begin producing a series of broadsides in the original spirit of the form: printed to a shared format, posted on the exterior of the building as a site of public reading, and available to buy at a low cost. These broadsides will be produced intermittently in collaboration with artists, poets and writers drawn from the wider activities of Broadside. For the first broadside we will be publishing Letter to Will R by the poet Danny Hayward. Written the morning after news of deportations and overnight killings in Gaza, it moves through grief, denial, and the question of what militancy means when despair won't lift. Drawing on Douglas Crimp's writing on AIDS activism, Gregg Bordowitz's film Fast Trip, Long Drop, and the death of someone loved, Danny H reflects on how political language breaks down—and what it means to keep writing through that.  Originally published at REPORTS, a bulletin for the exploration of inarticulate social and artistic experience.

28.03.26 2– 5pm For free you'd never be Broadside, 123 Allison St, Glasgow, G42 8NE For free you'd never be is an afternoon dedicated to writing and its intersections with politics and publicness. Leven St. Press will launch a new series of poems by Deviji RM Jaan, Ross McDiarmid, Joey Simons & Leilani Taneus-Miller. Throughout the day the poets will read their contributions. The poems will be available at Broadside before being distributed through Glasgow public libraries. Henry Bell will launch his new pamphlet Poems Against Fascism a new set of angry political poems. Henry will read some of the poems throughout the day and the pamphlet will be available for purchase. Marc Garrett will join us to launch his book Feral Class, a deeply personal and thought-provoking exploration of his early years, chronicling his journey as a working-class artist navigating a world that often rejects them. Marc will read excerpts and enter into dialogue with Judit Bodor. Broadside will launch its first Broadside—a form of street literature—featuring a text by the poet and writer Danny Hayward, posted on the front of the building and available for a limited run for purchase. Aye-Aye Books—Glasgow's long-running art & politics bookshop—will be trading throughout the day, offering 10% off all purchases.

17.01.26 18:30–20:00 Hellscapes,Gardens,Games the allegorical turn at the end of the liberal age A presentation by Václav Janoščík Please join us for an illustrated talk with the Czech theorist, curator and pedagogue Václav Janoščík followed by a space for discussion over drinks. Janoščík will work through the question of how in a world riven by multiple interlinked crises artists—in the widest possible sense—are turning to an allegorical mode. Bringing in examples from contemporary art and film that engage with the endtimes of hell and the reparative potential of the garden before ultimately turning to today's dominant cultural form—the game—and exploring the potentials that it may open. Free entry, no booking required

From 12.01.26 7–9pm Capital Volume 1 Reading Group. Many people are aware that Karl Marx's Capital has a lot to say about the world we find ourselves in. However, many new readers find wading through the first volume's text too much of a struggle and put the book down soon after picking it up. In particular, the first six chapters present a frustrating hurdle to many readers. We are planning to start a weekly reading group in Glasgow, covering (for now) those six chapters, to provide participants with the opportunity to understand the argument in Capital for themselves. Reading Capital in a group is an effective way to understand what the book is about. The aim of this reading group is not to cover as much material as possible per session, but to go at a pace that ensures everyone can understand and discuss what's on the page, rather than relying on a flawed summary from a book or a podcast. Capital isn't an easy book to read, but neither is it beyond anyone willing to spend some time with it. We will meet every Monday at 7 pm at Broadside, 123 Allison St, Glasgow, G42 8NE We will be reading the Penguin edition (Ben Fowkes translation) of Capital. If you do not already have a copy, some will be available to purchase from @ayeayebooks . If you're interested in joining, please sign up to the mailing list for the group so we know who is planning to attend. You can join the mailing list by sending a blank email to the appropriate address below. [email protected]

Saturday 13.12.25 5–7pm 🎉🎉🎉 Please join us for a festive celebration welcoming new tenant, the long-running art and politics bookshop, Aye-Aye Books. 📚 ONE NIGHT ONLY: 10% OFF ALL BOOKS! It's the perfect chance to grab a thoughtful gift for someone special (or yourself!) and support an essential independent bookseller. ☕️ We'll have hot & cold drinks and mince pies to keep you festive.

Thank you to everyone who has visited Between Not Everything and No Nothing so far. This is the final weekend here and the last chance to see the rest of the show @ivorytars at the same time. Thank you to @maydayrooms for the loan of the materials relating to Poster Film Collective and to Paul @staticcomplex for all of his work. From next week @ayeayebooks will be back in the main space and we will be launching the latest @notes_from_below

Between Not Everything and Not Nothing Barbara Bloom, Dora Budor, Channels, Park McArthur, Poster Film Collective, Paul Sullivan Opening 20.09.25 Broadside 5–7pm Wed–Sat 12–6pm until 18.10.25 Ivory Tars 6–8pm Sat–Sun 12–5pm until 26.10.25 Critique is just a cutting tool, not the price of admission. A device for making little breathing holes in the suffocating fabric of reality. —Marina Vishmidt This exhibition in two parts—programmed by Broadside and Ivory Tars—engages with Infrastructural Critique, a term coined by the late theorist Marina Vishmidt (1976–2024). Infrastructural Critique seeks to problematise the limited scope of earlier forms of Institutional Critique, in order to create an immanent space in which the material conditions of contemporary life can be better apprehended and gestured beyond. Whilst not an attempt at a direct explication of Vishmidt’s far-ranging thoughts on the subject—there is no formal style or procedural approach that can be applied to her theories, and they are inimical to any overarching scheme of visual representation—this project acts as a provocation. As a way of articulating a series of operative contradictions around which these theories revolve.

See you tomorrow! Aye-Aye Books@Broadside 123 Allison Street Glasgow Weds-Sat 12-6

AyeAye Books @ Broadside Following CCA Glasgow’s shocking decision to evict Aye-Aye Books—the city’s longest-running specialist art and politics bookshop—Broadside is stepping in to provide them a temporary home. Aye-Aye book's aim is to think about the world we live in, how it works, what powers it, who runs it, and how we might need to respond to that.These ideas align closely with Broadside’s work, and we’re excited to collaborate through shared programming. Join us on Saturday, 23rd August 2025, to welcome Aye-Aye Books to Broadside! Browse their collection, grab a cold drink, and maybe even pick up a bargain.

04.05.25   2–5pm Broadside Book Sale Broadside has a particular interest in publishing and is opening its doors for one afternoon for a chance to engage with the output of studio holders and pick up some bargain books. Our newest studio holders 5b will be selling a selection of backlist titles, signed editions and discounted display copies. Long-term residents Rosies Disobedient Press will be selling their publications, wearables, bookmarks and a new limited edition poster. Broadside will have publications and ephemera from its exhibition programme as well as a small selection of books related to the artists they have worked with. The Variant archive will also be accessible for the afternoon for anyone interested to engage with this essential part of Scotland’s publishing history ahead of the special issue launching later in the month.

07.12.24 2 – 7pm Knot A one day exhibition and performance featuring new sound and related work by Hannah Ellul and Rebecca Wilcox. Knot knits ideas around laboured language with moments of affective rupture—encounters where the material world and the sensing body come up against each other in unexpected ways. Working with voice, field recording and sound synthesis, Wilcox and Ellul hone in on speech and sound as rhythm, depth and distance. Performances 2.30, 3,30, 4.30, 5.30

Workshop 07.07.24 4 – 6pm FOLD: a watching & writing workshop with @fieldnotes_london Join us for a watching and writing session investigating the language of memory, with a focus on process, practice and conversation. Hosted by Fieldnotes an artist-run publishing project based in Newham in east London. Films and texts will provide departure points for poetic enquiries into themes of record and reality, fiction and forgetting, emergence and erasure. A series of writing prompts will take us through systems of notation, memory palaces, dissident archives, hive minds and redacted records as we consider how our writing is shaped by and shapes our memories. Amongst other references we will watch & read together: Blight by John Smith Self Portrait in Green by Marie NDiaye Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha I only wish that I could weep by The Atlas Group —— Fieldnotes have further events with our friends @good_press and @cca_glasgow the same weekend check fieldnotes.site for details.