Something Else PressEdit
Something Else Press was a New York–based publisher active primarily in the 1960s and early 1970s, renowned for turning the book into an interdisciplinary object. Founded in 1963 by the artist and writer Dick Higgins, the press sought to erase rigid boundaries between text, image, performance, and sound. Its catalog reflected a deliberate rejection of conventional, mass-market publishing in favor of small-run, carefully crafted editions that treated the book as a vehicle for experimentation rather than mere packaging for words. In doing so, SEP helped to legitimize a strand of artistic practice that linked the postwar avant-garde to later generations of intermedia and conceptual work. The imprint operated at the crossroads of the Fluxus milieu and the broader experimental scene then thriving in New York City and Europe, and its influence extended into the broader world of self-publishing, artist’s books, and interdisciplinary publishing.
Founding and mission
Dick Higgins established Something Else Press to provide a home for works that refused easy categorization. The mission was to publish projects that could not be neatly slotted into poetry, prose, art, or theater, and to treat the publisher’s imprint as itself an artistic statement. The approach reflected a belief that the form of the book could be stretched, folded, and reimagined in ways that paralleled developments in performance art, sound, sculpture, and visual poetry. In this sense, SEP aligned with a broader movement toward intermedia practices, while maintaining a practical stance on the realities of publishing—small print runs, hand-assembly, and direct engagement with readers and collectors. The press drew on the sensibilities of the Fluxus circle and allied movements, while cultivating a distinct identity centered on the objecthood of the publication itself.
Design, typography, and production
SEP editions are remembered for their distinctive design and hands-on production. The books often combined typography, image, and layout in ways that challenged conventional reading processes. This emphasis on the materiality of the book—paper stock, binding, and format—was as much a political stance as an aesthetic choice, signaling a rejection of mass-produced, interchangeable objects. By treating the book as a site for experimentation, SEP anticipated later trends in artist's book publishing and influenced a generation of printers, designers, and poets who sought to fuse form with content. The collaborative nature of many projects—bridging text, visual art, and sound—made SEP a hub for producers who saw the edition as an artifact that could travel beyond galleries and bookstores.
Publications and scope
The Something Else Press catalog encompassed a broad range of experimental work, including poetry, prose, visual poetry, sound scores, and multimedia hybrid projects. The imprint favored works that could function across disciplines, often incorporating performance elements or instructions for realization beyond the printed page. While the precise roster of authors and collaborators is diverse, the throughline is clear: a commitment to pushing the limits of what a book could be and how a reader might encounter language and image. In this sense, SEP sits within a lineage of artist's book and concrete poetry practices, while also signaling the transgressive possibilities of publishing as an artistic medium.
Reception, controversies, and debates
The reception of SEP’s work tracked a broader tension in literature and art between experimentation and accessibility. Critics from more traditional or market-minded quarters sometimes decried the press as opaque or impractical, arguing that its work was not easily affordable or legible to a general audience. Supporters countered that the value of SEP lay precisely in its fidelity to artistic integrity and in expanding the vocabulary of what publishing could accomplish. From a perspective that prizes craftsmanship, independence, and the defense of artistic autonomy against homogenized commercial culture, SEP represented a principled stand for creative freedom and the cultivation of a public for nonstandard forms.
That said, debates about SEP’s place in cultural history often pivot on questions of accessibility and audience. Some observers argued that such projects risk trivializing readers who are not steeped in avant-garde contexts. Proponents might respond that the makeshift, publish-it-yourself ethos of SEP encouraged a broader culture of experimentation, and that the resulting works fostered cross-pollination among poetry, visual art, and performance. When critics from the more mainstream press accused the imprint of elitism, advocates would emphasize the democratizing effect of making rare, collectible objects that nonetheless circulated in the art world, libraries, and independent shops. In discussions about the current relevance of SEP, some defenders also argue that the emphasis on form over sensational social messages aligns with a tradition of true artistic autonomy that resists co-optation by social-issue branding.
Woke criticisms of this tradition—perspectives that push toward identity-focused readings and political alignment as the primary context for art—are often challenged on this ground. From a viewpoint that esteems artistic independence and a broad, cross-cutting audience for experimental work, such criticisms can be viewed as missing the point of SEP’s project: to broaden what counts as literature and art, and to insist that challenging, even confrontational, forms can coexist with serious craft and lasting influence. The argument, in this reading, is not to dismiss social concerns but to keep faith with a publishing program that sought to expand the possibilities of the book as a cultural instrument.
Legacy and influence
Something Else Press helped to catalyze a durable mode of publishing that treats the book as a flexible, collaborative project rather than a fixed commodity. The imprint’s blend of text, image, and performance foreshadowed later developments in conceptual art and in the evolution of the artist's book as a legitimate art form. SEP’s emphasis on intermedia collaboration and on distributing works through a network of collectors, small presses, and independent booksellers contributed to a durable ecosystem for experimental literature. The press’s influence can be traced in the way later generations approached publication as a boundary-crossing practice—one that welcomes readers into a material encounter with language, sound, and image, rather than a fixed, linear reading experience.
The story of SEP also intersects with the broader history of postwar avant-garde culture in New York City and beyond. Its spirit of experimentation helped legitimize a generation of writers and artists who would go on to challenge conventional hierarchies of art and publishing. In that sense, Something Else Press remains a touchstone for discussions about how books can operate as art objects, how public-facing experimentation can be sustained outside the dominant markets, and how a publisher’s choice of form can be as provocative as its content.