Call it Something Else: Something Else Press, Inc. (1963-1974)

We can talk about a thing, but we cannot talk a thing. It is always something else.
—“A Something Else Manifesto,” 1964

This companion publication to the same-titled exhibition organized by the Sofidù in 2023-24, encompasses the research conducted by curators Alice Centamore and Christian Xatrec around Dick Higgins’ editorial project Something Else Press, which also operated as a gallery from 1966 onwards. The publishing house was founded at the height of the “linguistic turn,” a pivotal moment in 1960s art as artists began to use language and texts as a material for their aesthetic endeavours. Its unwavering aim was to take in the burgeoning creative experiments of composers, dancers, writers and artists of every stripe (many of whom were part of Higgins’ circle) and to give their ephemeral work the support needed to project it towards the future.

The essays included here explore the length and breadth of Dick Higgins’ project, the publisher, the gallery and the concept of “intermedia,” which he coined to define the heterogeneous forms that challenged all categories and tallied with the mould of “something else”.

With contributions by Alice Centamore, Johanna Gosse, Danielle Johnson, Trevor Stark, Christian Xatrec.