Still Because | Abridged 20th Anniversary Issue Launch at CCA Derry~Londonderry

Launch: Saturday 13 April 2024

CCA is thrilled to be hosting Abridged to launch their 20th anniversary issue! Abridged is a publication and aims to publish and exhibit contemporary/ experimental poetry plus contemporary art. They encourage poets/artists to investigate the articulation of ‘Abridged’ themes. These themes focus on contemporary concerns in a rapidly changing society. They offer an alternative and complete integration of poetry, art and design. They experiment continually and also stray into the exhibition format producing contemporary, innovative and challenging work accompanied by a free publication.

From Abridged Magazine:

"Twenty years ago, in a freezing cold but groovy little contemporary art gallery called the Context in Derry, a former and slightly lost Chancer decided that a gloomy little magazine was required. Why was a gloomy little magazine needed? Well, we liked magazines, but didn’t particularly like the magazines that we came across. We didn’t want to change the literary world though. We weren’t that clichéd. And besides others (or so they told us and still tell us) were busy trying to do that. We just wanted to create our own little world, an exaggerated distorted version of our experiences that looked good. We knew our limitations and the limitations of the arena we operated in. So we called the magazine ‘Abridged’. The reaction ranged to from complete indifference to outright hostility. That only encouraged us. ‘Abridged’ was the title of a poem that described getting abused by one side of our ‘religious divide’ whilst walking to work across a Derry bridge in the morning and getting abused by the ‘other side’ on the way back home. The final line – ‘whatever you are, you’re not one of us’ – became a guiding mantra. The CCA have, very kindly, invited us back for the launch of our 20^th Anniversary issue. We're delighted. You can go home again."

abridged.zone