Publi Fluor : You make me feel (mighty real)

Self-taught artist Chrystel Crickx used to cut out letters by hand and sell them by the piece in her store, Publi Fluor, in Schaerbeek (Brussels). From 1975 to 2000, Crickx cut these letters from adhesive vinyl for local signage and advertising purposes, and disseminated them only in Brussels at first. Then, from 2000 onwards, the letters circulated in digital form under free license at the initiative of graphic designer Pierre Huyghebaert, to whom Chrystel sold her stock when she retired. Twenty years later, the Crickx Research Group formed around this archive and produced the non-standard collective essay Publi Fluor, affaires de lettres à Bruxelles published by Surfaces Utiles.

For this presentation, graphic designer Olivier Bertrand and queer activist David Le Simple will be in conversation, weaving their way through some of the cracks in this practice, bringing together theories of graphic design, gender, self-taught learning, and disco music.

Olivier Bertrand mainly designs objects with pages. His research into publishing focuses on the reappropriation and piracy of what the book industry leaves behind. In this spirit, he runs the Surfaces Utiles publishing house.

David Le Simple is a book practitioner in a variety of ways: teaching, publishing, lecturing, and more. Present on Radio Campus Bruxelles, he injects queerness wherever he can, particularly in the text he wrote for the book Publi Fluor.