Peter Foolen Editions, based in Eindhoven, publishes work by contemporary poets and artists. There is a focus on collaborative work, multimedia pieces, and project-based publications. As well as books, the press publishes poem-objects (flags, toys, etc), prints, and portfolios (boxed suites of work by one artist or a collaboration). Poetry is given a generous remit of allowable forms and guises, and the books and objects are finished to a particularly  high standard. I spoke to Peter by email.

When and where did you start publishing?
Who and what prompted you?
My history as a publisher goes back to 1987. Having worked for a few years as an artist alone in my studio, that year I joined the artist-run space ‘Peninsula’ in Eindhoven. Over the next decade I organized, with my partners there, some hundred in-house exhibitions. I designed the invitation cards and printed, silkscreen, the posters for each show. Slowly we progressed from working with friends and local artists to artists with international reputations. In 1994 we published a portfolio titled Dear Stieglitz, featuring pieces by artists like Marina Abramovic, Roni Horn, Vito Acconci and Jean-Marc Bustamante. But I had also invited four artists from England and Scotland to contribute: Richard Long, Hamish Fulton, Thomas Joshua Cooper, and Ian Hamilton Finlay. And then, when we wanted someone to write an essay for this edition, it was Hamish Fulton who suggested and introduced me to Thomas A Clark.

I knew Tom’s name from the publication The Unpainted Landscape, which was published in 1987 to accompany a travelling exhibition of the same ...