zine, [zeen] noun. 1. abbr. of fanzine; 2. any amateurly-published periodical. Oxford Reference

..

Monday, August 24, 2009

Some Nice Publications

 
 

Sent to you by Jack via Google Reader:

 
 

via CR Blog by Gavin Lucas on 8/20/09

Once again it's time to share some images of a few of the nice looking publications that have landed on our desks here at CR towers recently...

First up is the recently published book Goalkeeper Forever (cover shown above) - the catalogue for an exhibition of the same name which ran in June at the Piekary Gallery in Poznan, Poland. The exhibition showed again artist Zdzisław Sosnowski's series of films and photographs entitled Goalkeeper that originally showed in 1975 and in which the artist explores the popularity of celebrity - in this case of the football star - the artist himself used to be a goalkeeper. At the exhibition, in addition to the work from the seventies, there will be the most recent artwork by Sosnowski - a series of photographs and accompanying movie Robokeeper. Here are some spreads from the catalogue - with which designer Ryszard Bienert of studio 3-group  has had a lot of typographic fun:

The book is available to buy from Piekary Gallery

... and now to Germany. This (cover shown above) is Neuland: The Future of German Graphic Design (published by Actar), edited and designed by Barcelona-based studio TwoPoints.Net. The book sets out to map the landscape of German graphic design - or rather, more specifically, to look at emerging, young graphic design talent in Germany. Not only does the book showcase work by a selection of 50 designers and studios, but it looks at where they are based, where the founders of the studios studied - and asks of each of them "what does it mean to you to be German and a designer?" Here are some spreads from the main body of the book:

 

The introduction of Neuland needs a mention too - as well as explaining the design process of the two bespoke typefaces designed for use in the book (TP Kurier Sans and Kurier Serif) - it goes on to map, literally, various facts and figures relating to the contents of the book. As TwoPoints.Net explain:

"This book represents our entry into a new territory (Neuland). Our introduction serves as a chart for this new and unknown country. It documents the results of our search, as well as additional information that may be helpful for designers wishing to get acquainted with germany. The maps provide an overview of the German design scene as embodied in our book. It shows where our Neuland designers have studied and where they currently reside. It locates great bookshops, conferences and organizations and above all, it bears marks of where the history of German design has left its traces."

 

 

Said The Computer To The Specialist (cover shown above) is the second edition to issue forth from London's No Brow Small Press. The 32 page A5 volume is full of illustrations by Tom Rowe and has been hand screenprinted in five colours in an edition of 50 numbered and signed copies. For more deets and to buy a copy - visit nobrow.net Here are a few spreads for your delectation:

 

OK, so this last publication hasn't actually landed on a CR desk - but we did just hear about it and get these images so we thought we'd post it up here with these other fine looking volumes... This is (wait for it) Compendium N.6 Pink Laser Beam - from This is a magazine...

 

As we haven't actually handled the beast, it's tricky to describe it - so here's the blurb that came with the pictures: 

"The title of the 6th printed Compendium from This is a magazine refers to science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick's final novel, Valis, in which the protagonist receives extra-terrestrial transmissions on a beam of pink light of unknown origin:

God, he told us, had fired a beam of pink light directly at him, at his head, his eyes; Fat had been temporarily blinded and his head had ached for days. It was easy, he said, to describe the beam of pink light; it's exactly what you get as a phosphene after-image when a flashbulb has gone off in your face. Fat was spiritually haunted by that color. Sometimes it showed up on a TV screen. He lived for that light, that one particular color.

Valis, Philip K. Dick

"Pink Laser Beam appears to defy logic, revealing new associations and hidden meanings as it unfolds in time and space. In an edition of 666 copies each containing 180 pages of scored, punch-cut, embossed, drilled and folded works on paper (and plastic) stitched into a hard-bound cold-foil printed cover which is then wrapped in a giant poster dust-jacket (on the reverse of which are a series of appendices and related texts, a supplement to the final index of artworks and authors)

With continued attention to DIY reader participation each Pink Laser Beam book includes:

a make your own OMG obelisk by aids-3d / Evolution of 3-space with custom anaglyph-glasses / a picture-disc for the My Cat is an Alien soundtrack MP3 / a hex-sticker by the Center for Tactical Magic / a star-map by Grant Willing / playing cards / even a complete (yet invisible) book by J.G. Ballard as served by the Amazon Noir project is hidden within..."

Here's a YouTube flick through of the 180 page tome:

 

 


 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Search This Blog