Jordan Hearns, Feel me, I'm here for you (2021-24)
Book tickets
GLUE 2026
Who decides the zeitgeist? What's in and out in contemporary publishing? Independent publishers SMUT Press, HELA Press and Tummy Ache join Flora Gau (Studio Nocturne) to unpack who gets published, what gets championed and how to sustain a career in publishing.
There has never been so much content to choose from. Alongside this creative abundance comes increasing pressure to create and produce more to keep up. Against a backdrop of cuts to arts finding and low-artist fees, how do publishers, editors and curators decide what to publish and who to support?
Bringing together independent publishers across art, fashion and literature, this conversation is chaired by Studio Nocturne’s Flora Gau with Jack Scollard & Jordan Hearns from SMUT Press, Helena Czernecka from Hela Press and Anna Morrissey from Tummy Ache. Together they explore how editorial and curatorial decisions are made, whose practices are championed and how, and how these choices shape who can build a sustainable career in publishing today.
Discover the full GLUE 2026 programme
Who decides the zeitgeist? What's in and out in contemporary publishing? Independent publishers SMUT Press, HELA Press and Tummy Ache join Flora Gau (Studio Nocturne) to unpack who gets published, what gets championed and how to sustain a career in publishing.
There has never been so much content to choose from. Alongside this creative abundance comes increasing pressure to create and produce more to keep up. Against a backdrop of cuts to arts finding and low-artist fees, how do publishers, editors and curators decide what to publish and who to support?
Bringing together independent publishers across art, fashion and literature, this conversation is chaired by Studio Nocturne’s Flora Gau with Jack Scollard & Jordan Hearns from SMUT Press, Helena Czernecka from Hela Press and Anna Morrissey from Tummy Ache. Together they explore how editorial and curatorial decisions are made, whose practices are championed and how, and how these choices shape who can build a sustainable career in publishing today.
Discover the full GLUE 2026 programme
Bios
SMUT Press is a London-based queer publishing project and party platform redefining what print and nightlife can do. Founded in 2022 by Jack Scollard and Jordan Hearns, they champion queer artists through unapologetic, art-driven books including Cruising Archaeology and Michele Baron’s After Life, amongst others. But SMUT’s impact goes way beyond the page: their raves have become cult fixtures, selling out in days and building a fiercely loyal community. Since its inception, the press have released ten publications, with their work profiled by Dazed, DJMag, The Face, Polyesterzine, BUTT, HERO and Tank Magazine.
Helena Czernecka is a publisher and curator based between Warsaw and London. In 2025, she founded HELA Press, an independent publishing house dedicated to books exploring the relationship between image, performance, and text. She’s the co-curator of Primary Forms, an annual exhibition and educational programme at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2021–ongoing). She has contributed to numerous international exhibitions, including the Thailand Biennale (2024), EVA International, Ireland’s Biennial (2023), and the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2019). She has also worked for leading contemporary art galleries and collections, including Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Almine Rech, Kamel Mennour and the Margulies Collection. She holds master’s degrees in history of art from Sorbonne University, Paris, and in contemporary art theory from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Tummy Ache is a multidisciplinary project using art, fashion and publishing to encourage honest conversations about mental health. Tummy Ache Magazine – published biannually – is dedicating space to emotional importance, language, and conversation by allocating each print issue to a different emotion, creating encyclopaedias of typically ‘negative’ emotions as felt by a disparate array of creatives. In doing so we hope to combat emotional isolation by offering our readers a bedrock to refer to when feeling alone in their feelings, and forge a community centred on collective honesty and experience.
Flora Gau's trajectory cuts across independent publishing, fashion, and gallery contexts: less a linear climb, more a series of deliberate shifts in perspective. Her practice is rooted in instinct rather than format. She began as an editor at Self Publish Be Happy, then moved through agencies and production companies in London and Paris, working in art buying and image direction. More recently, her path took her from Maison Alaïa to Creative Direction, so it followed that she opened her own space earlier this year: Studio Nocturne, a space and an approach, offering bespoke book curations, exhibitions, and events.
Across it all, one thread holds: a resistance to fixed disciplines and a visual language that feels both rigorous and quietly subversive.
Book tickets
Sun, 13 Sep 2026
Nash and Brandon Rooms
02:00 pm
Ticket information
- All tickets that do not require ID (full price, disabled, income support) can be printed at home or stored in email
- For aged-based concession tickets (under 25, student) please bring relevant ID to collect at the front desk before the event.
Access information
Nash and Brandon Rooms
- The Nash and Brandon Rooms are located on the second floor and can be accessed via a ramp and lift from Carlton House Terrace. Please note that the lift is small (see measurements in our Visual Story Guide) and cannot accommodate motorised wheelchairs; a transfer to a standard chair is required. For assistance, please speak to staff at the front desk on arrival or contact us in advance at access@ica.art.
- Sensory Maps and Large Print Guides are available at the information and sales desk.
- Free entry is available for visitors where ticket prices are a barrier. Please email access@ica.art for more information.
- For further access information or specific requirements, please visit our Access Page.
Members+ and all Patrons gain free entry to all cinema screenings, exhibitions, talks, and more.
Join today as a Member+ for £25/month.
SMUT Press.
Tummy Ache, Vol. 5 The Horny Issue.
Flora Gau
HELLA Press.
