Dear Readers

v.1 emerges from the graduate course Public(ation)s, in which our class—this issue’s editorial board—surveyed historical and contemporary art and design publishing and set out to write about our individual and collective interests. Through this maiden publishing voyage, we have come to understand publications as an expanded site for artists’ and designers’ practices—one that provides other means to participate in cultural production and circumvents the increased professionalization of the studio. With submissions from a call for proposals sent to all graduate students and contributions from our editorial board, we assembled a series of texts addressing the complexities surrounding today’s institutions, pedagogies, technologies, and professional expectations. This issue was not themed intentionally; our common interests emerged organically, signaling the problems of higher education and the precarity of the students who occupy it. v.1 hopes to reassert the role of students as activists who can approach their own situations critically and constructively, reenvisioning the conditions and value of study. We would like to thank Jen Liese, Director of the Writing Center, and Patricia Phillips, Dean of Graduate Studies, for their invaluable support, critical insight and advice, and especially sharp eyes and minds. We would also like to thank our brilliant in-class design team, developmental editors, copy editors, image editors, photographers, and social media team: Feiyi Bie, Rosalind Breen, James Chae, Caleb Churchill, Chris Goodale, Emily Grego, Tristram Lansdowne, Diane Lee, Jagdeep Raina, Paul Rouphail, Jillian Suzanne, Ala Tannir, and Mary Yang. Special thanks, too, to Prin Limphongpand (MFA Graphic Design 2014) for his design and production support. Without you all, v.1 would not exist. We could not be more proud of our collective efforts.