Join us for the closing reception of DIY Publishing Resident Lex Leto’s project, Manifestos from the Midwest, on June 5, 5-7pm. Receptioners can expect snacks, pop-up readings, amusement, inspiration, and curiosity of what their own manifesto might include.
MANIFESTOS FROM THE MIDWEST
Manifestos from the Midwest is a collection of manifestos submitted for an open call for work in Spring 2026. From the call: “A manifesto is an idea made concrete, a howling wish into reality, a vision that must be confessed. Manifestos yearn, cry, confuse, inspire, sing, fight, share, unite. Manifestos seep up from your bones and into the cracks of a dream not yet real, into the cracks of an establishment that will infallibly crumble with enough push. From a heavy heart, from a paralyzed voice, from a window, you may find yourself searching. Find the answers within yourself and dare to utter them, perhaps even before you have faith in your ability to act on their meaning. A manifesto is a doctrine to strive towards. A promise of becoming. A shout not into the void but into the hearts and minds of others—a path into connection and unity. A manifesto is never finished—with action, it changes and is redefined, rewritten. It is charged by the imaginative power of a world aching to breathe anew. A manifesto is a record of your now-desire: impassioned and bold. Write it down. Share it. We want to hear. We want to listen.”
This open call came from my love of reading people’s manifestos, of reading their convictions, of understanding how convictions can transform people. Manifestos from the Midwest asks the question what does my neighbor have to say? The manifestos are personal, whimsical, defiant, insistent. The gallery itself is transformed day by day, with newly-printed manifestos filling its walls ceiling to floor. A result of the DIY publishing residency, visitors view not only the work but the process of the work itself. Walls are covered with different versions of the same prints, impressing upon viewers not just the urgency of the words on the page, but also the variety of ways the words themselves can be seen and read. While printing, the words impressed themselves upon me as the printmaker as well, urging me to “PERSIST,” and to “Try not to think whenever I can manage it.” The prints are created in letterpress, screenprint, risograph, typewriter, and a near-failed attempt at the obsolete process of mimeography.
The collection is on view now in the Public Space One’s Northside gallery during regular open hours for those curious about the process. The closing reception will be held June 5 from 5-7pm. Receptioners can expect snacks, pop-up readings, amusement, inspiration, and curiosity of what their own manifesto might include.
About PS1’s 2026 DIY Publishing Resident:
Lex Leto is a musician and DIY printmaker. What began as a desire to make merch for their band and a refusal to accept anything other than screenprinting it locally by hand has resulted in, years later, a sporadic devotion to printmaking that is most often ignited by wanting to make surprise prints for their friends. Their love of printmaking is their love of design, of small press publications, of DIY, of teaching and skillsharing, of making with friends, of learning by way of failure, of inky hands, of bootlegged local band merch. Lex mostly screenprints, but also makes linocut, letterpress, and dreams of becoming a risograph sovereign one day.
This event is part of the Iowa City Downtown District’s 2026 Summer Gallery Walk. Learn more and see the full schedule of Gallery Walk stops here.