Sticky

Sticky Institute is an Incorporated Association and is a volunteer run, not for profit Artist Run Initiative housed in Degraves Street Subway under Flinders Street, Melbourne. Sticky was originally conceived as a not for profit retail 'side project' in 2001 within Platform Artist Group who operate artist exhibition spaces in the subway and nearby lanes.

The three day a week shop-front idea, Sticky began with ten artist publications for sale in the Platform office in April 2001. Since then, Sticky has stocked thousands of titles from around Australia and overseas, and has established itself as a nationally and internationally recognised specialty zine and artist book shop.

In 2007 Sticky became an Artist Run Intitiative in its own right, as Sticky Institute Inc. Sticky continues to share Platform’s office space, its shop front, but is separately administered by volunteers including the shop’s founder and former Platform Coordinator, Luke Sinclair, and zinester Eloise Peace.

The principal purposes for which the Association is established are:

• To strengthen, serve, represent and appropriately promote innovative creative expression that explores and challenges popular perceptions through Melbourne’s zine culture which encompasses visual arts, crafts, literature and design;

• To encourage and facilitate self-identity, self-expression and creation of communities through the provision of space and personalised access to practical and artistic resources as part of a broader independent ‘Do It Yourself’ ethic which celebrates self-empowerment and cultural diversity;

• To operate a dynamic, accessible not for profit retail outlet with public exposure in a retail environment with a simple submission process that enables anyone to stock their work and become involved in Melbourne’s zine culture, and ensuring that we charge a minimal sales commission (20%) in the retail operation, the emphasis being on returning as much of the retail price as possible back to those involved in the product’s creation.

• Sticky values the vital role and contribution of volunteers to the organisation both past and present.

Contact

P.O. Box 310

Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Victoria 8009

AUSTRALIA

Email: sticky [@] platform.org.au

External Link

• Sticky website, which also includes a handy Australian 'zine directory and cultural dictionary'
• Sticky MySpace website
• Future Melbourne: artist run spaces / artist run initiatives: Sticky and Melbourne's zine culture By Eloise Peace, co-coordinator of Sticky, August 2007, commissioned by the City of Melbourne.