Avi here, speaking for myself (other Silver Sprocket crew have spoken for themselves about this in plenty of other places). Thanks for the “Ask” and sorry for taking this long to respond. The show is over, but this is still important. I had an essay I was trying to write that I don’t think I’ll finish because it sucks, but a couple quick points:
*A while back, upon finding out about the trouble from Joe Biel to a handful of real-life personal friends, I decided to stop selling to or buying from Microcosm. I communicated this to Biel in person outside of the SF Zine Fest, which was an intense and weird experience. This isn’t an abstract internet argument. I think this was important but not a “big deal”. I don’t feel important or informed enough to pass loud judgment or take up space in this discussion, but he has clearly harmed people I care about, so I decided to personally limit ties.
*“Henry and Glen Forever” being published by Microcosm is uncomfortable, and I’m not confident at all about if I’m drawing the line of what kind of “ties” to Microcosm this means I have, but I am dedicated to my support of this show and the artists involved. I’ve been friends and collaborators with many of them for 12+ years, and this show has no involvement with Microcosm or Biel, though it is by its nature supporting a book they published, and I absolutely understand if any of my friends or usual allies want to sit this one out or think less of me for it. I awkwardly didn’t realize it was a Microcosm book when I signed on, and should have talked about this directly with the artists when I figured it out (sorry some intense life shit was going on and I was doing my best to keep up), but I’m still behind it and this isn’t affecting any of my activities. I’m proud of this and enthusiastically doing all the things.
*Microcosm has published books from my best friend in college and artists I’ve been friends and collaborators with for 15+ years. I don’t want my decision to not work with Biel to keep me from being supportive of my long term friends that have their own ties to his company, though this is why I stopped buying their books for my own distro and limited interaction in other ways.
*I am insecure about everything forever and welcome conversation, criticism, suggestions, perspective or whatever about this (and really anything else I’m doing ever), getting called out makes us better people. I’m posting this not to be self-righteous or defensive but in an attempt to clearly state whats going on and what my current thinking is.
I can be reached directly by email at avi