An Ambivalence Toward Trends - 34 Years Of Touch - A selection of artwork by Jon Wozencroft

Established in 1981 and adorned with some of the most gorgeous cover-art ever to grace a sleeve, Touch became widely known for its look, fashioned in part by the photography of Jon Wozencroft (who co-runs the label). These simple but devastatingly effective images became synonymous with their respective releases and the label became just as widely appreciated in the art world as in the world of experimental music. It's the music itself though that has set Touch apart from so many other similar labels, and their roster still speaks for itself; Fennesz, Biosphere, Hildur Gudnadóttir , Philip Jeck, Rosy Parlane, Jóhann Jóhannsson, BJNilsen, Chris Watson, Mika Vainio , Ryoji Ikeda – it reads like a veritable who’s who of contemporary experimental music

Alongside Touch, Wozencroft’s photography and design work has appeared in a number of publications, including Fax Art, Sampler, G1, Merz to Emigre and Beyond and most recently Cover Art By. He was the publisher of Vagabond (magazine co–edited with Jon Savage, 1992), and the editor/designer of Joy Division Heart and Soul box set in 1997, with whom he also worked on the 2007 CD reissues by Warner Brothers. In 2008 he was named ‘Music Designer of the Year’ in the Qwartz Awards, Paris.
A book of his work, Touch & Fuse, was published in 1999 by the University of Porto. His moving-image work that has been showcased at the BFI, Sonar, Transmediale, Avanti, Punkt and numerous other festivals.

Wozencroft studied as a postgraduate at the London College of Printing, working for various printers and publishers before setting up the multimedia publishing company Touch in 1982. As well as working as a freelance writer, designer, editor and programme-maker, Wozencroft collaborated with artists and musicians from around the world developed Touch as an alternative vision of audio-visual publishing. A series of contributions to Touch from Neville Brody let to closer involvement, firstly in helping to set up the Brody Studio in 1987, later as an author of The Graphic Language of Neville Brody. At the end of 1988, they published a treatise on corporate design culture in The Guardian Review. In 1990, they started the FUSE project, of which Wozencroft is the editor. Jon Wozencroft began teaching at Central St. Martin's School of Art and Design in London in 1992 where he developed a new course for BA Graphic Design. In 1994 he was appointed main tutor and assistant course director for MA Interactive Multimedia at the Royal College of Art. sHe is currently Senior Tutor in the Communication Art and Design Department at the Royal College of Art.

Throughout the exhibition there will be performances from Touch label artists plus a conversation between co founders Mike Harding and Jon Wozencroft

29 April - live performance by Philip Jeck
21 May - live performance by Mark Van Hoen

Available prints listed below, please email us to arrange to purchase