Dear friends,

We are happy to invite you to Cults and Culture on Thursday, July 13th from 7:00 PM, a talk by Alex Head in which the author will discuss his book Ricochet – Cultural Epigenetics and the Philosophy of Change (Ljå Forlag, Oslo, 2021).

Reflecting on discoveries and debates that have occurred in the two years since its publication, artist Alex Head will read from current works in progress to highlight specific aspects within his ambitious book 
Ricochet to discuss the architecture of power.

It is now well documented that cults have been used to disseminate disinformation. For example the extremist cults of MAGA, The Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who’s recruitment pipeline has been funded by Big Oil and crypto libertarians in an attempt to overthrow the United States and 
crash their and the world’s economy.

But what about the arts more widely, is there a form of culture that is transparent about its ideology, particularly in today’s hyper-accelerate media vortex? Are all cultural institutions not also in some way cultish? The cult of patriarchy being just one obvious example that transcends both religious and cultural institutions.

Focussing on specific evidence of how cults have been used to spread disinformation and other historical data the artist will discuss the central motif to his work Ricochet, – the Sacred Date Palm Tree – as a expression of the anti-rhizome. Are we, the unwitting public being continuously gaslit by Sacred Date Palm tree’s in the form of neoclassical architecture? And if so, what can we do to review and 
refocus personal and political objectives as users navigate the web architecture of the app?

Join us at Motto Berlin on Thursday, 13th of July for an insightful talk where we will explore the profound themes of Ricochet and run across topics like January 6th, Classical Architecture, White Supremacy, BND Building Berlin, Mental Health, Libertarianism, Bitcoin, Gold Standard, Going Offline, Art, Publishing, Design, Cultural Epigenetics, Memory, Witnessing and Social Media.

–

Alex Head

Ljå Forlag

A sequence or phrase. Jean-Pascal Flavien. Spector Books.

“A sequence or phrase” is a monographic catalogue on Jean-Pascal Flavien’s work, published following his two exhibitions at the Parc Saint Léger, Centre d’Art Contemporain (FR) and the Kunstverein Langenhagen (DE), both in 2012. It includes contributions by Vanessa Desclaux, Vanessa Joan Müller, and Olivier Michelon. It is published by Spector Books, and designed by Pascal Storz with Jean-Pascal Flavien.

Flavien’s work combines architectural experiments, book publishing, and performance with other media such as video, drawing, installation, and sculpture.

His recent solo exhibitions include breathing house at Parc Saint Léger, Pougues-les-Eaux; ‘Jean-Pascal Flavien’ at Kunstverein Langenhagen; Cinonema, no drama cinema at South London Gallery (both 2012). and two persons house at Capacete, São Paulo (2010). Flavien has participated in numerous group exhibitions at various institutions including Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster (2013); Les Abbatoirs, Toulouse (2012); Musac, Leon; Witte de With, Rotterdam; Kunsthaus Bregenz (all 2011) and Tate Modern, London (2008).

Upcoming solo exhibitions will take place at Catherine Bastide, Brussels, and Galerie Esther Schipper, Berlin.

Aut
Language: English/French/German
Pages: 112
Size: 23 x 30 cm
Binding: Softcover
ISBN: 97839449052

28 €

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The Shelf Journal #2. Shelf-Publishing.

In this issue:

Derek Birdsall, Interview. – Books which affected the career and life of the famous British book designer.

Stanley Morison & Maximilien Vox, A Frenchman’s view of British typography and vice-versa.

Patricia Belen & Grey D’Onofrio, Elaine Lustig Cohen: The Art of Modern Graphics.

The “club of clubs”, Culture Club – Discussion about French book clubs.

Sebastien Hayez, Four Aces. – Modernism development of graphic design through four design magazine’s issue number 1.

Hugo Hoppmann & Mirko Borsche, The Designing Art Director – Conversation.

The Shelf Journal, A fly on the wall in the printing shop. – Report on printing techniques, supported by examples.

About The Shelf:

“Why start a paper journal about books at a time when the internet is calling into question the average Westerner’s innate materialism, and at a time when the price of a book-as-object puts off devotees of free knowledge on the net? What is becoming of bound volumes today – that foundation of our society, those keepers of our history?

With the dematerialisation of editorial content, the practice of design within books is taking on an even more important dimension. Whether insignificant objects or works of art in their own right, books create through their different forms and stories a unique bond with those who read, consult and own them. This almost physical connection was the reason for creating The Shelf Journal.

 Part place of worship and reflection for paper lovers, part experimental platform for designers, typographers and other graphic designers, The Shelf Journal explores the essence of our libraries’ charm: the limitless variations in form of this unique object.”

122 pages
English and French
ISBN: 9782954065618

D 20€

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Post-Digital Print: The Mutation of Publishing Since 1894. Alessandro Ludovico. Onomatopee.

In this post-digital age, digital technology is no longer a revolutionary phenomenon but a normal part of everyday life. The mutation of music and film into bits and bytes, downloads and streams is now taken for granted. For the world of book and magazine publishing however, this transformation has only just begun.

Still, the vision of this transformation is far from new. For more than century now, avant-garde artists, activists and technologists have been anticipating the development of networked and electronic publishing. Although in hindsight the reports of the death of paper were greatly exaggerated, electronic publishing has now certainly become a reality. How will the analog and the digital coexist in the post-digital age of publishing? How will they transition, mix and cross over?

In this book, Alessandro Ludovico re-reads the history of the avant-garde arts as a prehistory of cutting through the so-called dichotomy between paper and electronics. Ludovico is the editor and publisher of Neural, a magazine for critical digital culture and media arts. For more than twenty years now, he has been working at the cutting edge (and the outer fringes) of both print publishing and politically engaged digital art.

In collaboration with Kenniscentrum Creating 010, Hogeschool Rotterdam

graphic design: Eric de Haas
print: Lecturis
editor: Joe Monk
written by Alessandro Ludovico, introduction by Florian Cramer

D 15€

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