If you're interested in the history of the Middle East, why not take a trip to the Bidoun Library in Hyde Park's Serpentine Gallery.  

It's a curious library-in-a-museum curated by New York based Bidoun Magazine, a fantastic publication which promotes Middle Eastern art and culture. They've installed a library at the Gallery that allows you to explore the Middle East's history of printed matter.

Photo: Bidoun Library, Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London © 2011 Sebastiano Pellion

There's a real plethora of publications on show from popular fiction, illustrated children's books, 1960's political pamphlets to more recent publications documenting the upheavals of present day.

I particularly enjoyed this variety, finding myself skimming the illustrated pages of a child's book, looking at a radical Marxist publication and then reading a teenage magazine.

The collection has a user-friendly layout that allows you to take your time, browse and absorb a selection of texts. It's an eclectic and visually stimulating show, and together the publications make for a beautiful display in their own right.

Photo: Fantastic Four, Fasaud Marvel Comics 1987

The Bidoun Library is free and open at the Serpentine Gallery until the 17th September.

In oh comely issue five, we handed out 30 or so blank notebooks to strangers and waited to see if they came back to us. We were curious to see what people would write and doodle in their pages; where they travelled to, and who looked after them. But only two were returned to us.

Then recently we discovered that illustrator Laura Millward had a similar idea. She sent out a travelling journal across the world, asking friends and followers to tell her about their day. Happily, it has had a longer life than ours! 

We caught up with Laura to ask her about the project.

What gave you the idea for the traveling journal?

I'd taken part in a similar project before, run by Bianca of Goodnight Little Spoon, who sent out a travelling journal to lots of people asking them to fill in pages on the theme of 'mail.' I decided it'd be fun to start my own. I was really excited about sending something to different countries and seeing how everyone filled in their pages.

What do you like about artist's journals?

Sketchbooks are often a place where artists have much more freedom to express themselves in whatever way they want, as they don't have to please anyone else. This freedom means endless possibilities for experimenting with different media and not caring as much about whether the end result is perfect.

It's almost voyeuristic looking at the notebook pages, like reading other people's diaries. Why do you think people are so fascinated by the lives of others? Why are those people so keen to share theirs?

I was really interested to see little insights into people's everyday lives. Even things like what time they leave for work and what they had for breakfast; details like this fascinate me for some reason. I was partly inspired by reading Gemma Correll's Daily Diaries and I also love reading real life graphic novels. I think everyone has a story to tell. People have often gone through similar experiences, which is often quite comforting to know.

How many different places has your notebook visited? Do think you could calculate the distance that it's traveled?

The journal's first trip was to Australia, then it travelled to Japan, Canada and Puerto Rico then back to me for a stop-off in the UK. I've estimated the miles travelled to be over 30,000 so far. The journal has now been sent to the US so you can add even more than that!

Do you have a favorite page?

I love all the pages and it's really hard to choose a favourite. Everyone took a different approach. People have have even included mix CD's and there are some beautiful photos taken in Japan. I particularly love Bianca's amazing artistic text and MK's drawings from Tokyo.

Sometimes "traveling" art projects can be risky. As we learnt, they can get lost in transit or one person can break the chain by not sending it on. Were you optimistic about getting the book back?

I was a little scared in case anything happened to it but luckily it made its way back to me fine, thanks to all the kind people who passed it on.

What are your plans for the journal now that it has returned?

It's currently in Chicago as I thought it would be fun to send it to my favourite comic artist, Jeffrey Brown, who kindly agreed to fill in a page himself. I can't wait to get it back! After that, Gemma Correll also said she would participate so I think I'll pass it on to her next.

You can find the adventures of the traveling journal here and here.

The Atlas of Remote Islands is a beautiful book. It's the work of Judith Schalansky, a German illustrator and typographer. Judith has illustrated 50 remote islands located in overlooked, out of the way parts of planet Earth and written short histories on each of them. 

All the 50 islands are suitably difficult to get to, which makes this book the perfect armchair travel-guide to the world outside. After all, if you can't sort a weekend trip to Pitcairn Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, why not read about it with a cup of coffee on the sofa?

Yesterday I went to Ben McLaughlin's art exhibition in London. The show is beautifully put together, and his drawings are truly stunning. It's only on until Sunday, so you better rush. It's worth it!

I know I'm a little bit addicted to zines, but the Salford Zine Library is such a great project that I couldn't resist finding out more about it.

We learnt of its existence through Hours, a new publication that gives photographers a disposable camera and 24 hours to take pictures of whatever they want. Their photos are then published in this nicely put together zine. It's the work of Molly Rooke and Matt Shearer.

It turns out that you can browse through a copy of Hours at the Salford Zine Library, an archive of self-published material open to the public. 

We talked to illustrator Craig John Barr, co-founder of the library along with Matthew Walkerdine.

When did it all begin?

The library started in January 2010 after a conversation between myself and Matthew. We had both submitted to libraries in the U.S and thought we should set something up for the north west of the U.K.

How do you source the zines in the library?

All the zines are donations from artist and individual’s private collections. The zines are normally mailed to us and come from across the world: we have had a submission from every continent. We accept anything that is self published in any media. Maybe we should have called it Salford self-publishing library, but 'zines' is a recognisable term. The library has no curatorship and it's open to all to contribute. We both enjoy the wide range of self-published work coming into the library and are often taken back by the ambitious formats and the creative solutions to duplicate work. It is always nice to see something new that deviates from the standard A4 folded photocopy zine.

What's was the purpose of the library? Was it simply to make self-published material availbale to a wider audience?

We wanted to show the variety of self-publishing and the also the importance of being able to work independently without editorial control and censorship. The main aim is to be accessible and show that anyone is capable of duplicating and distributing ideas.

You can visit the libaray at /www.islingtonmill.com/" target="_blank">Islington Mill. Submit your own work by sending it to: 48 Landos Court, Gunson Street, Manchester, M40 7WT.

Discovering the work of an artist who's spent their creative life working in private, away from peoples' prying eyes and questions, is the stuff of legends. Alfred Wallis, for example, was a little known Cornish fisherman and painter, when Ben Nicholson got wind of his work in the 1920s. For the last two decades of this life, he became a much celebrated artist. 

Although the Chicago based photographer get="_blank">Vivian Maier was no Cornish seaman, her photography has recently been exposed and feted in ways that reminded me of Wallis. At a Chicago auction several years ago John Maloof came across 3000 prints, 2000 rolls of film and 100,000 negatives by Maier. He bought the auction lot and is still sorting through this huge archive of her life and work. 

From the 1950s to the 1990s Maier was a prolific street photographer. She died in 2009 and knew nothing of the great success her photography has become. Maier's photographs are bustling with policemen, people and life; what was once a creative isolation is now everybody's business.  

Gus & Stella are a Belgian photographers duo based in London. They work independently and together, collaborating on fashion shoots and travel projects. Their One-Shot-Wonders project started by selecting favourite holiday pictures.

They say, "The photos are taken with all sorts of cameras, from a great 35 mm to a very cheap underwater camera. The pictures are a gasp of a dream. An evidence of an unaware moment and a small escape from everyday life. Standing on top of a hill, gazing into the fog below. The pleasure of throwing a rock into the unknown. Seawater, sunny clouds, feet in the air, birds and flags. All colourful and playful, searching for shapes, leaving the usual behind. One-Shot-Wonders are just stills, which create a whole story by themselves and hit you right there." 

Greg Allum might work as photographer but that hasn't stopped him from publishing a beautiful illustrated poem called The Sail. Greg's tale is a tender exploration of love and loss. I asked him to give a little background to the story. "The Sail was inspired by a series of relationships I had in my early to late twenties. I use writing as a cathartic tool, to understand my own emotions. A kind of note to oneself. My aim was to try and write a short book that was simplistic in structure, but involved the complex emotions of letting go of someone or something you love."

The Sail is illustrated by Polish artist Taxi Taxi and can be found at the lovely Handmade and City Books in Brighton, or online on Greg's site.

Handmade and Bound, the affordable art-book and zine fair, comes to London this Sunday. If you like comics, books, zines, DIY paper interventions, illustration, newspapers, magazines, screen prints and sunday afternoon fairs, head on down to the St. Aloysius Social Club. Things kick off at midday.

The Photographer’s Gallery is tucked away in a cozy nook of London’s Soho. It's a pretty good place to visit as an escape from city. I remember being particularly distracted by a display of Found magazine's weird and wonderful submissions.

Here’s the thing. The Gallery is closing its doors until August 2011. But don’t despair for lack of distraction around the city. They’re running a competition in collaboration with photographers Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren who wrote Street Photography Now. Every week a leading photographer will give an instruction, and you’ve 6 days to upload your photo responding to the direction onto the project’s Flickr page.

The first quote is “If you can smell the street by looking at the photo, it’s a street photograph.” The competition begins on 1^st October. Check the project site for more information on specifics (and prizes!).

Painters, photographers and illustrators: tomorrow's your last chance to submit your work to the Papergirl Manchester project--although they do hint that they're a little flexible on the deadline.

Papergirl is a rather beautiful art project that originated in Berlin. An army of girls and boys on bikes will deliver hundreds of rolls of donated artwork to passers-by on the streets of Manchester. 

They say, "Giving the work out by bike means that there is no time for any stereotypes when choosing recipients of the pieces. You have to react fast and spontaneously. Chance plays its part."

This is Papergirl's first outing in the UK. We'll have some more about the project as their launch gets closer. 

Thanks to Just.Ekosystem.org for the photo of the original Papergirl in Berlin.

The people at the Impossible Project have been winding back time. After the factory of the much-loved Polaroid film closed its doors, they bought it up and have been working to bring back the medium.

Today, the first flush edition of their colour film goes on sale. They say, "PX 70 Color Shade is reminiscent of the beloved expired, original Polaroid Time Zero film."

We have some free packs of their B&W handiwork to give away in our second issue, which will be out on August 9th. Have a look at magazine to choose an edition.