QUESTIONS/QUESTIONS
“One year ago, we started the QUESTIONS/QUESTIONS project with the aim of giving some editorial space to students who graduated in 2011. Although we would have liked to have published it earlier, we believe that the interest of the projects that we have assembled is independent from the date of their publication. But there is a lot more that can be criticized or questioned. For example, the limitation to a certain audience of the call to contributions, which probably leaves a lot of good things out. That said, we are very happy with what we have been able to bring together.
The design and the editorial options follow from the desire to focus on the content — showing things that can’t be found on the Web or to emphasize particular aspects of the projects. We hope that this publication can become a humble source of reflexion for graphic designers — our selection has been influenced by the aim to combine, as much as possible, different horizons and ways of thinking about graphic design…”
Students: Rafaela Drazic, Benedetta Crippa, Benjamin E. Critton, Anne De Boeck and Laura Bergans, Caterina Giuliani, Filimonas Triantafyllou, Anna Craemer, Caroll Maréchal, Karoline Swiezynski, Laurie Robins, Alban-Paul Valmary, Manon Pavlowsky, Célia Castelo, Anh Truong, Laurens Teerlinck, Loraine Furter, Hester Barnard, RISD Graphic Design MFA Class of 2011, Bastien Bouvier, Agathe Demay, Michèle Champagne, Anja Groten, Simona Kicurovska, Maarten Kanters, Valentin Barry, Erik Hartin, Sophie Demay, Pedro Cid Proença, Afonso Martins, Maël Fournier-Comte, Astrid Seme, Nell May.
Contributors: Marco Balesteros, Annelys de Vet, Thierry Chancogne, Oliver Klimpel, Catherine Guiral, Harmen Liemburg, Uta Eisenreich, Europa (Paul Tisdell, Mia Frostner & Robert Sollis, CA&D alumni 2007), François Rappo.
LE CATALOGUE ET SES HYBRIDES #3
Le projet Le catalogue et ses hybrides met en scène des projets d’édition rendant compte de la diversité de l’offre éditoriale liée au contexte d’exposition. Ces espaces imprimés de rencontres – format d’interaction entre un lieu d’art (centre d’art, galerie, musée…), un commissaire, un artiste, un designer graphique, un théoricien … – questionnent notamment l’objet livre comme alternative à l’espace d’exposition. De l’objet documentaire – le catalogue – à la formule imprimée composite – livre d’artiste – certaines de ces publications proposent un traitement plus complexe de la documentation des productions artistiques et des pratiques curatoriales. Source, trace ou prolongement de l’éphémère, chacune de ces expériences imprimées, réactivées à chaque lecture, constitue un espace alternatif de mémoire vive, un nouveau contexte d’existence de l’œuvre d’art.
Emancipé, le catalogue défie et contourne le contexte d’exposition qui génère donc ces expérimentations éditoriales mettant en tension l’espace d’exposition et la documentation traditionnelle. L’exposition en propose un extrait.
À l’occasion de cette troisième rencontre:
Présentation du catalogue (sa maquette) du projet Le catalogue et ses hybrides, en collaboration et désigné par officeabc, curieux catalogue qui tente d’incarner son propre énoncé.
Théophile’s Papers: Panorama n°14 et REVUE_FAX N°002, conçue par Dieudonné Cartier, en collaboration avec Angélique Buisson pour ce numéro.
Workshop avec les étudiants de l’École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Nancy par Samuel Bonnet qui tentera de questionner l’objet éditorial comme “support à l’exposition”.
Une conférence qui sera l’occasion d’approfondir le thème du projet: le catalogue d’exposition et de se poser la question de l’exposition de l’objet livre.
9 novembre – 6 décembre 2012
Vernissage: 8 novembre, 18h
École Nationale Supérieure d’Art/Galerie NaMiMa, Nancy
UPCOMING BOOK FAIRS
©William Wegman, Reading Two Books
OFFPRINT, November 15-18, 2012, Paris
KIOOSK, November 17-18, 2012, Kraków
PA/PER VIEW, November 24-25, 2012, Porto
ROOKIE, December 6-8, 2012, Poznan
MINDGAMES 2012
MINDGAMES, by Geirthrudur Finnbogadottir Hjorvar, published in collaboration with Werkplaats Typografie, is a quadrangled story about shades and variations in co-dependence and sovereignty, inspired by a musician (John Lennon), a theorist (Henri Lefebvre), an author (Halldor Laxness) and a demented ruler of Rome (Caligula).
Mindgames is constituted by four parts – ordered in alternating sequence – to form thirteen chapters in total. Each of the four sections holds a biographical account of its subject: Caligula, Henri Lefebvre, John Lennon and Halldór Laxness. The chapters can be read separately, as they have been conceived to be independent wholes, forming biographies that present portraits of associations rather than particular statements about individual lives. The text, however, is constructed to alternate rhythmically between the main motives. The motives in turn produce variations on particular themes as they modulate into different parts within the totality of the work as a whole. Mindgames was conceived as a way to enjoy information in the tradition of autodidacts of the past – but in a style which is commingled with a reverence towards traditional modes of archiving the world.
AUTOUR DES LIVRES DE PAUL GRAHAM
Jusqu’au 9 décembre, Le Bal, à Paris, présente le travail de Paul Graham, figure majeure de la scène photographique britannique contemporaine, et propose deux conférences, Autour des livres de Paul Graham.
Au-delà du livre de photographie, Nicolas Giraud, 24 octobre, 20h
L’imprimé est toujours un outil ambigu pour le photographe, un objet qui oscille entre le catalogue, l’archive et l’espace d’exposition. Chez Paul Graham, le livre de photographie est poussé dans ses retranchements, jusqu’au point de basculer.
S’ils s’inscrivent dans une généalogie qui comprend les publications de William Eggleston ou Garry Winogrand, les livres de Paul Graham se nourrissent aussi d’influences littéraires et des expérimentations du livre d’artiste. En traversant cette bibliothèque singulière, nous verrons comment l’espace du livre permet à Paul Graham de neutraliser tout conflit entre l’objectif et le subjectif par un subtil jeu éditorial entre les images et leur agencement.
“Elliptical Narrative” – Le récit, l’histoire et le livre de photographie, Gerry Badger,
7 novembre, 20 h
Gerry Badger établira une distinction entre le “récit” (narrative) et “l’histoire” (story). En utilisant le mot “histoire” pour décrire des récits simples et linéaires, Badger libère le « récit » et lui permet de prendre une acception très large qui inclut la photographie– avec l’expression “récit elliptique” (elliptical narrative). Il reviendra sur les expérimentations des photographes du collectif japonais Provoke avec Takuma Nakahira et sa “déconstruction radicale du récit”, mais aussi sur le livre Metal de Germaine Krull, où le lecteur est invité à construire lui-même la séquence des images. La notion de narration elliptique permettra également de mettre en écho les livres de Robert Frank et William Klein avec ceux de Paul Graham.
Construire l’image: Le Corbusier et la photographie
Le Corbusier (1887-1965) souhaitait apporter à ses contemporains une nouvelle façon de penser à la fois l’habitat, l’urbanisme et l’art: proposer des conditions de vie nouvelles pour un homme nouveau.
La photographie est bien sûr à la base de la diffusion de son oeuvre architecturale, mais l’exposition Construire l’image: Le Corbusier et la photographie ne se limite pas à la représentation photographique des réalisations de Le Corbusier. Dans son cas, la photographie mérite en effet d’être envisagée dans une perspective bien plus large : il est ici question de la photographie autant comme outil de représentation, de promotion ou de diffusion que comme moyen de recherche artistique et plastique.
Durant toute sa vie, Le Corbusier a fait de l’image des usages différenciés. Ses voyages ont été pour lui l’occasion de réunir de nombreux documents qu’il a utilisés dans son travail d’architecte, d’urbaniste, de théoricien et de plasticien. Il a puisé dans ce vaste répertoire iconographique pour illustrer ses écrits et ses expositions, développant des stratégies de communication innovantes. Il a supervisé la documentation de ses ouvres avec un œil exigeant et aiguisé, qui en fait parfois un véritable co-auteur de certaines photographies consacrées à son architecture. Par ailleurs, Le Corbusier a lui-même expérimenté cadrages et jeux de lumière dans son travail photographique personnel, encore largement inédit. La découverte récente de milliers de négatifs permet ainsi de restituer son processus créatif et de le confronter à sa pratique picturale.
Pour l’architecte, la photographie a ainsi servi à la fois de notes de travail et d’outil de recherche plastique. Au-delà de son propre travail de création, Le Corbusier a aussi été un des premiers à construire consciencieusement et systématiquement son image et celle de son œuvre à travers la photographie, en s’appuyant sur le travail de plusieurs photographes de renom.
jusqu’au 13 janvier 2013
Musée des beaux-arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds
Éditions B2
Les Éditions B2, entre autres nées d’une insatisfaction devant l’offre éditoriale en matière d’architecture et d’une bibliothèque spécialisée recelant des trésors anciens et/ou non-traduits, forment une “Galaxie Gutenberg” de poche et entendent édifier un “cabinet de curiosités” architectural, espèces d’espaces rassemblant une infinité de petits univers d’hétérotopies classiques, d’actualités et d’étrangetés…
How long should I work on that curve?
How long should I work on that curve?, a lecture by François Rappo in the context of Types We Can Make, a selection of contemporary Swiss typeface design curated by ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, at Cooper Union in New York from October 23 to November 17, 2012.
How long should I work on that curve? And why? Type design includes very different techniques: calligraphy, drawing, geometric construction, digital vectors. Some techniques are just hidden helpers, some are obvious elements of style. Some are sources, some are targets. In this way the process can be likened to a series of translations. What is gained and what is lost? Each technique has the potential to offer and trigger a unique visual experience. Moreover, each has the potential to provide specific patterns for the designer.
François Rappo will explore this theme in the context of contemporary Swiss type design, in its modernist tradition, in his own projects and in his teaching.
October 22, 2012, 6:30pm
The Cooper Union, New York
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger est né en 1930 à Santa Monica et a grandi à Hollywood. Il est aujourd’hui considéré comme le maître du cinéma expérimental, grand inspirateur de la subculture, et l’influence majeure d’une génération de réalisateurs, musiciens et autres artistes. En 1947, il réalise Fireworks, sélectionné dans de nombreux festivals en Europe, dont le festival de Cannes où Cocteau le découvre. C’est un choc : il trouve là son corolaire américain, comme un Genet sous acide.
Dans les films de Kenneth Anger, on retrouve l’occultisme, la mythologie, la culture gay, Hollywood. Des couleurs criardes, des écritures techno. Chacun de ses films, grâce à diverses techniques de travail de la pellicule, prend une forme onirique, une œuvre habitée par la magie, la poésie. C’est un cinéma de montage, proche d’un procédé hallucinatoire.
Pour Kenneth Anger, un film terminé n’est pas un film emballé, ses pellicules sont perpétuellement retravaillées, réutilisées pour un autre film ou pour des photogrammes qui donnent, aujourd’hui, souvent lieu à des installations.
Cette nouvelle exposition personnelle de Kenneth Anger à la galerie du jour agnès b., centrée sur deux œuvres majeures de l’artiste : Hollywood Babylon et le cycle de films Magic lantern, montre des documents provenant de la collection personnelle de l’artiste, des projections des films Inauguration of the pleasure of dome (1954) et Puce moment (1949) ainsi que le fameux néon Hollywood Babylon.
jusqu’au 3 novembre 2012
galerie du jour agnès b., Paris
Slide Shows
Slide Shows, presented by Fillip, is a specially commissioned project by Charlotte Cheetham as part of the Print Centre, during IbA that took place in Vancouver.
Taking the form of an ongoing series of video presentations by publishers, designers, and artists, Slide Shows offers one possible cross section of a newly emergent landscape of contemporary art publishing. To be continued…
M/M (PARIS) DE M À M
M to M of M/M (Paris) is a 528-page monograph presenting twenty years of works by M/M (Paris).
Published to mark their twentieth anniversary, this is the definitive monograph. It records hundreds of their mind-blowing projects, each represented in illustrations and photographs and arranged alphabetically from ‘M’ to ‘M’.
While print, drawing, photography and an unconventional approach to typography lie at the heart of M/M’s work, they have also produced films, objects or interiors.
Interviews with some of their closest collaborators — such as Björk, Nicolas Ghesquière, Pierre Huyghe, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Sarah Morris or Glenn O’Brien, as well as Amzalag and Augustyniak themselves, tell M/M’s story. These texts reveal their areas of interest, define their position both within graphic design and beyond and shed new light on the duo’s creative process. Internationally renowned art curator Hans Ulrich Obrist contributes a preface, while contemporary artist Philippe Parreno offers an essay about their joint projects.
These multiple conversations and recollections of shared experiences paint an overview of the evolution of the creative world since the early 90s.
Launch, October 24, Ensba, Paris, 6pm
Talk, October 27, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 3pm
The Binder and the Server
The Binder and the Server is an expanded and illustrated paperback version of the essay by the same name, which originally appeared in the winter 2011 issue of Art Journal.
The Binder and the Server is the outcome of several group discussions among Triple Canopy editors, and was written by senior editor Colby Chamberlain. The essay details the history of Triple Canopy in order to stake out our position on the ideology of Internet culture. By carefully examining the history of new-media publishing and the shift from disciplinary to control societies, the essay addresses the politics of online identity, friendship, labor, and the dream of digital democracy. In short: On the Internet, we are all contractors.
This pocket-sized edition, designed by Franklin Vandiver, draws on experimental paperbacks of the 1960s, chief among them the collaborations of Marshall McLuhan and graphic designer Quentin Fiore. The book is characterized by cinematic layouts that merge text, typography, illustration, photography, and original artwork by Josh Kline and Dan Torop.
The Binder and the Server will be discussing
at Publishing Forum: Reading Group, october 17, 7.15pm
Banner Repeater, London
BAT éditions
est conçue comme une collection. Elle ne s’envisage pas seulement dans le rassemblement des contenus propres à chaque numéro, mais se révèle également par la succession et la corrélation des livraisons. Sa ligne éditoriale se dévoile progressivement à travers les textes ou documents édités et la forme de leur apparition.
Conception, réalisation et production: François Aubart, Jérôme Dupeyrat, Charles Mazé, Camille Pageard et Coline Sunier; Couverture: Benjamin Seror.
N°3, du 19 au 21 octobre 2012
Salon Light #9, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
FORMAT – Sarah Crowner
In FORMAT, Sarah Crowner’s first widely distributed artist book, the artist creates a roving collage of source material culled from a diverse range of previously distributed print material: magazines, books, posters, newspapers, postcards, etc. This publication provides a rare insight into the artist’s working practice, demonstrating Crowner’s concerns with visual formulations hinged on historical investigations, particularly in the overlap of art, writing, fashion, and design. Crowner’s graceful positioning of this material gives the reader a spirited visual narrative that unfolds many of our inherited formal mantras of the 20th Century.
In collaboration with the artist, Calvin Rocchio has a designed and produced a table to display FORMAT on at the launch.
Launch, October 16, 6pm
KARMA, New York
Are You Talking to Me? – A library of friends
Are You Talking to Me? – Conceptual design in the communication of art institutions – is an international conference concerned with extended questions regarding graphic design. How can the internet presence of art institutions be developed, and what significance does this have in the communication with visitors and virtual public spheres? How are an institution’s thematic focus points and objectives conveyed through the structure of the site, the functions it contains and the way it is designed? What is the connection between online and offline formats and media? In what way are graphic design and the structure of the institution mutually dependent? Within the framework of the public conference, these questions will be examined using the example of institutions of various sizes and organisational structures (artists’ spaces, art associations, museums). At the same time, the role of graphic designers in the area of conflict between the specific requirements of the institution, the task at hand and their own visibility will be a central theme.
Speakers: Urs Lehni (Corner College, Zurich), James Langdon (Eastside Projects, Birmingham), Binna Choi (Casco, Utrecht), David Bennewith (Colophon, Amsterdam), Andrew Blauvelt (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis).
October 19, 2012, 3-6pm, Museum of Contemporary Art, Leipzig
A Library of Friends – organized in cooperation with OIiver KIimpel and the Klasse System-Design at the Academy for Visual Arts Leipzig – is a series of talks and a library of books that have become friends and dear companions to the invited speakers. Each of always two guests will be talking about one significant book chosen by him or her that is not in the college library yet, but will now become part of the growing Library of Friends.
With: David Bennewith (Colophon, Amsterdam) and the book by Mike Nelson ‘A forgotten kingdom’, 2010; James Langdon (Eastside Projects, Birmingham) and the book by Helen Douglas / Telfer Stokes, ‘Chinese Whispers’, 1975
October 20, 2012, 5-7 pm, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig
The Seller, The Publisher and the Artist.
The seller, the publisher, the artist – A small inquiry about artist’s books: three conferences dedicated to the thematic of editorial independence and artists books, presented by A plus A Slovenian Exhibition Center of Venice in collaboration with Automatic Books.
The theme of the “artists book”, that will be explored through multiple points of view thanks to the contribution of prestigious guests: the curator and publisher Cornelia Lauf, the artist Franco Vaccari and the art collector Giorgio Maffei.
To talk about the “artists book” is today an interesting but complex theme, starting from its definition. From years curators and art historians participate to this endless diatribe “What is an artists book?”. This cycle of conferences looks forwards to be a precious occasion to look for an answer to this question, debating with important protagonists of this sector whom, other than collecting artists book, dedicated themselves completely to this media through exhibitions, publications and events.
Cornelia Lauf, October 15, 2012, 6pm
Franco Vaccari, November 10, 2012, 6pm
Giorgio Maffei, December 3, 2012, 6pm
A plus A, Slovenian Exhibition Center, Venezia
Platform for Pedagogy lectures – Archives and Activism, Project Projects: As of 10.15.12, Negotiate: Exhibitions and Social Space
©Inventory Books
Platform for Pedagogy is a group that publicizes and promotes public lectures, symposia and related cultural events in and around New York City. Their aim is to cultivate cross-disciplinary lecture attendance and open institutions to larger and more diverse publics.
Archives and Activism, October 12, 2012
This symposium addresses a range of issues attendant upon archives’ evolving relationships with activism and social justice, ownership and participatory archives, and what emerging technologies mean for the practice.
Project Projects: As of 10.15.12, October 16, 2012
Adam Michaels, Prem Krishnamurthy, and Rob Giampietro will speak about their multidisciplinary practice at design studio Project Projects. Combining a conceptual focus, a critical approach to visual form, and an expansive sense of the possibilities of contemporary design practice, the studio engages in varied modes of production across a wide range of media and scales.
Negotiate: Exhibitions and Social Space, October 17, 2012
With Axel Wieder, curator and writer; response by Felicity Scott, Columbia University GSAPP. Axel Wieder has taken part in numerous exhibitions and together with Jesko Fezer and Katja Reichard, he founded the “Pro qm” bookstore in Berlin, which is also a venue for experimental events in the field of art and urbanism
SALON LIGHT #9
Pour sa 9ème édition le Salon Light met en scène rencontres et dialogues avec cinquante éditeurs et libraires indépendants, et trois journées de recherches et de performances sur la pratique éditoriale. Les acteurs de la micro-édition occupent un champ d’expérimentation multimodale et se jouent des frontières artistiques, comme des déterminations théoriques. Directement liées aux techniques de création et de diffusion de l’information les plus novatrices, les pratiques éditoriales ouvrent le champ de l’art et de ses frontières : sciences humaines, graphisme, son, poésie… Une nouvelle génération de curateurs s’est constituée sur le modèle de l’éditeur indépendant, qui s’adapte de manière dynamique aux mutations du monde contemporain où les rôles de l’édition (auteur, éditeur, graphiste, collectionneur, photographe, conservateur, libraire, lecteur) sont tour à tour joués par les mêmes. Une nouvelle route de la soie est ainsi empruntée par un nombre grandissant d’acteurs animés du désir de rompre avec un art qui fait du profit et souhaite réinventer un art complexe qui véhicule du savoir et se démarque naturellement du produit de luxe. Le Cneai renouvelle pour le Salon Light#9 la forme du salon en un véritable espace d’exposition des pratiques éditoriales.
19-21 octobre 2012
Palais de Tokyo, Paris
Addressing the Need: The Graphic Design of the Eames Office
Charles and Ray Eames were America’s iconic 20th century design couple; world famous for their pioneering furniture still in production today and furnishing the rooms of many 21st century homes.
Ray was trained as a painter and Charles as an architect. Together, they were designers who embraced a way of living where a design process both rigorous and playful was at the core of all they did.
The couple are particularly well known for their furniture design, less well known is the graphic design work which came out of the Eames Office. During their 40 year partnership, Ray and Charles spent the best part of their life designing exhibitions, making films and designing toys, which they considered a very serious pursuit. The exhibition Addressing the Need – until november 3, 2012, PM Gallery & House, London – examines their graphic contribution in all its forms, from exhibitions, advertisements, brochures, pamphlets, posters and timelines, presented in conjunction with some of their best-known furniture, films and toys.
This exhibition will feature graphic material never exhibited before, much of it very rare, serving to examine the rigorous thought processes of two designers working together to unite the structure and creativity of art and architecture and, ultimately, addressing the need in each of their projects.
Experimenting with the possibilities of technology preoccupied Charles and Ray Eames. This is exemplified in their seminal film ‘Powers of 10’ which explores the relative size of everything in the universe. The Eames Office produced 125 films in 28 years using filmmaking as a tool for problem-solving and finding it an ideal medium to clearly express complex and abstract ideas. This exhibition will include a small selection on these lesser known, but still highly influential projects.
MARIANNE WEX – An Exhibition
In some circles, Marianne Wex is famous for not being famous enough, in other circles she’s a sociological footnote, and in still other circles, she does not exist. Historical novelty is no more acceptable here than anywhere else, but every so often, some less-known work comes speaking to us so loudly that we rouse ourselves from the present torpor to plunge into the past tense.
Marianne Wex spent the early 1970s in Hamburg, Germany taking clandestine and banal photographs of men and women in public space. Then she reached out further and made photographs of advertisements, reproductions of Classical and Egyptian statuary, soft-core pornography, and stills from TV and film media, and herded all of it into categories: men standing, women standing, men sitting, women sitting, etc., and affixed those categories onto cardboard panels. These panels are not innocents. At the center of them is an argument about how we create and present ourselves, and the degree to which gender-specific conditioning and hierarchies are reflected through everyday pose, gesture, and pre-verbal communication. Though Marianne Wex’s photographic series was made explicitly for the middle of the 1970s, its fixations—self-representation and the performance of identity and gender—have not tired.
October 12–December 15, 2012
YALE UNION (YU), Portland