Minus 9 Design » exhibition

Embedded Art: Art in the name of Security, 2009

admin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:58:39 +0000

Projects have different ways of developing. The artwork ‘Requiem for the network’ created for Embedded Art: Art in the name of Security (‘an interdisciplinary exhibition focusing on the societal shifts caused by the universal desire for security’) in Berlin in February 2009 was the product of a six-month collaboration between myself and writer extraordinaire Ken Hollings.

View from the CCTV camera

The final artwork was a series of 4 A0 posters that ‘visualised’ Ken’s text (an essay he had written for the Embedded Art catalogue) as a network of connections. It also worked as a reflection of Ken’s process and essence as a writer, connecting what may seem like random “historical events, cultural allusions and epistemological shifts” in an impressive complete story with fascinating insight. The artwork is the result of a true and highly enjoyable collaboration, moving back and forth between Ken and myself. Ken covers the one, two, three, four, five stage process in detail.

Ken watching the artwork while being watched

Making the connections

Its all about the network

Photography by Ken Hollings.

Short run, an illustrated talk

admin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:26:29 +0000

‘Short run’: experimental book design & London’s little presses was a talk I gave to launch an exhibition of the same name at St Bride Library, London.

Slides from Short run, an illustrated talk

The talk focused on important aspects of little press publishing such as the publisher’s direct involvement in the design and production of their books. The design approach of a little press was largely dependent on the publisher’s available resources and connections that contributed to the unique identity of the imprints.

With these presses, production was an integral aspect of design, and design decisions were directly linked to available production processes and materials. Pursuing low-cost options, little press publishers were inventive in their methods of adding value to books by using coloured papers, alternative forms of lettering and experimental printing techniques.

Short run

admin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:39:06 +0000

‘Short run’: experimental book design and London’s little presses was an exhibition I curated at St Bride Library, London. Based on my PhD (at the Department of Typography, University of Reading) the exhibition showcased the book design and production practices of five London-based little presses: Stuart Montgomery’s Fulcrum Press, Stefan and Franciszka Themerson’s Gaberbocchus Press, Roy Lewis’s Keepsake Press, Asa Benveniste’s Trigram Press, and Bob Cobbing’s Writers Forum.

Each of the five little presses featured in this exhibition had a unique approach to publishing and was run in a distinct, individual manner based on the publisher’s personality and agenda. The exhibition showcased how this was reflected in the design and production of the books they published.

The exhibition featured a variety of rarely seen artefacts from private archives and collections. First editions, photographs, artwork, correspondence, layout sketches and illustrations allowed the viewer to gain a true understanding of the nature of book design and production of little presses in this post-WW2 period.

6,000,000 impressions

admin — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:27:53 +0000

6,000,000 impressions: handcrafting the book experience is an exhibition showcasing the process and output of Tara Books, at St Bride Library London. One of the things that make Tara Books unique is their genre of books made entirely by hand.
The enterprise is a fascinating study of craft and mass production. Tens of thousands of titles created in a small workshop in Chennai, India by hand using silkscreen and letterpress and book binding craft techniques are shipped to various parts of the world – LA, Berlin, Moscow, London, Tokyo…. the list keeps growing.

A6 invitation

These are books that, as Gita Wolf, Tara’s publisher puts it, ‘refashion traditional artisanal skills into fine contemporary bookmaking’.

Designing the poster and flyer for the exhibition was fun. Keeping in mind the spirit of Tara’s initiative, the publicity material was entirely (and painstakingly) printed by hand in India on handmade paper. The peacock on the poster is an image by the Gond artist Ram Singh Urveti from the book The Night Life of Trees.

A3 poster

Virtual Faces

admin — Thu, 01 Jun 2000 14:07:54 +0000

Virtual Faces [Typographic Portraits] was an exhibition of word portraits inspired by emails sent to me by friends over the period of a year. The exhibition was held in The British Council gallery in Chennai, India.

Using their own words (excerpted from emails), the concept of the exhibition was to reconstruct the personalities and individuals which had been erased or ‘flattened’ by electronic mail. Virtual Faces gave the words of the emails, a new graphic dimension. Friends were envisioned as PCO (Public Call Office) posters, postage stamps, business cards, books, and other graphic objects.

Unfortunately, due to a stolen portfolio situation, I have very little visual record left and will have to try and ferret more out when I head to the archive in India. For now, here’s one friend ‘Hitch’.