The Wishing Fountain
Open Calls

The Wishing Fountain is building its own queer publications collection.

We hope to collect, purchase, preserve, and present independent publications, artist books, zines, poetry books, photobooks, research-based publications, comics, personal archives, experimental printed matter, and other paper-based works that are difficult to categorise within mainstream institutions, created by or connected to East and Southeast Asian queer communities and their diasporas.

We believe that queer publications are never just "books". They may be an act of self-naming, a fragment of intimacy, a temporary shelter for a community, or a language that refuses to be fully and neatly translated. They carry voices that have not yet been fully seen by museums, libraries, universities, or market systems. They also record how we find one another, care for one another, and leave traces behind.

The Drifting Parcel is a pilot extension of The Duet of the Exodus.

We are launching a moving parcel, allowing it to travel between different readers, cities, and relationships. Inside the parcel are zines from The Duet of the Exodus. Each temporary receiver will be invited to spend a few days with the parcel after receiving it: to read it, leave a response, make your own zine, put it in the parcel, and then send the parcel on to the next stop.

This is not a creative task that needs to be “completed,” and there is no standard answer. You may make a concertina zine, a tiny booklet, a greeting card, or write a poem on a piece of paper and fold it into a paper fortune teller or a paper airplane. You may also choose to participate anonymously. We are not selecting participants based on artistic experience. We care more about whether you are willing to take care of this parcel with attention, and help it continue its journey to the next stop.

We are looking for 6 temporary receivers to take part in this pilot.