Stefan Marx (*1979) is a Hamburg based artist. His T-shirt label The Lousy Livincompany is a platform for his drawings published on T-shirts. He has worked for numerous skateboard and T-shirt labels worldwide. His artist books are published by Nieves, Rollo-Press, and Christoph Keller Editions/JRP Ringier – beside these releases he publishes regulary by himself. All Smallville Records releases are visually defined by Marx’ drawings. Smallville Records is also the label of his band The Dead Sea. He has lectured widely in Germany and taught Drawing at the Bauhaus University in Weimar.
The photographs that are included in this book form part of the archive of the photographer Alberto Flores Varela. The majority were taken on commission by the Sociedad de Cuauhtémoc y Famosa (SCyF), an institution established in 1918 for Cervecería Cuauhtémoc (Cuauhtémoc Brewing Company), a company that marked the foundation of modern Monterrey. It´s worth noting that the context of those years was of revolution. The business´ elite was threatened by the labor rights included in the new constitution of 1917, which featured the right to strike. This is how the “most fortunate” workers of modern Monterrey were domesticated. It was thus decided to sacrifice freedom of expression, free association, and democratic representation of the workers, among other rights, in exchange for maintaining employment in “the company.” This book depicts the first flash of restrained disillusionment: ¨forever loyal.¨These images represent the seed of the social order that was established in many industrial cities around the world. - Las fotografías que integran este libro forman parte del archivo del fotógrafo Alberto Flores Varela y la mayoría fueron tomadas por encargo de la Sociedad Cuauhtémoc y Famosa (SCyF), institución creada en 1918 por Cervecería Cuauhtémoc, empresa fundadora del Monterrey moderno. Cabe recordar que el contexto de aquellos años era de revolución. La élite empresarial se encontraba totalmente amenazada por la cartera de derechos laborales contenidos en la nueva constitución de 1917, que incluía el derecho a huelga. Callados, en la mesa familiar, sonriendo, levantando un poco más la botella, no tanto, ¡no se muevan! Así fueron domesticados los trabajadores “más afortunados” del Monterrey moderno. Estas imágenes representan la simiente del orden social que acabó por instalarse en muchas ciudades industriales del orbe. Así se decidió sacrificar la libertad de expresión, la libre asociación y la representación democrática de los trabajadores, entre otros derechos, a cambio de conservar el empleo en “la compañía”.
Artist Federico Hewson describes, accompanied by botanical drawings, how roses have been tools and symbols for activists and movements around the world throughout and today.
Infinity Complex Landscape is a photography fanzine documenting Yoshie Itasaka’s journey through contemporary East Ukraine landscape, its complexities and its contradictions.
“(…) It is impossible for one nation to assimilate the culture of another nation completely. Life and development of culture has various patterns.
The Culture of a creator and the culture of a borrower will continue to develop, but in different directions. All of this is often complicated by differing conditions and types.
It is wrong to identify the merger of cultures with the assimilation of a foreign culture. As a general rule, only a mixture of cultures is possible. However, despite this impossibility, many nations exert immense effort in pursuit of such assimilation… (…)”
“Europe and Mankind” by Nikolai Sergeyevich Trubetzkoy, Sofia, 1920
Yoshie Itasaka (b. 1984, Osaka) started her nomadic journey in 2010. From 2010 to 2013 the photographer traveled North America. From 2013 to 2020 she traveled the European Continent (including the Balkans, Caucasus, Russia), Israel, and Palestine.
Photos and art direction by Yoshie Itasaka Design by maho ohashi Edition of 300 copies Printed in Kyoto, Japan
50-year-olds: they’re hung up in streets, stuck in dull, damp plastic sleeves; they are taped to lampposts, to electricity substations or traffic signs, or they’re attached to trees with drawing pins.
This publication and exhibition explore the typically Dutch tradition of publicly displaying home made photo collages throughout streets and neighborhoods in celebration of a person’s 50th birthday.
Almost reminiscent of missing pet posters, amateur portrait photographs are distributed and displayed by being taped onto lamp posts and stapled to trees by friends or relatives, at the mercy of public opinion. Exposed to judgment and ridicule by friends, family and strangers, due to the usually demeaning nature of the photographs through unflattering holiday photos and the likes, individuals are exposed, raised out of anonymity and placed in the public eye.
To an extent the street becomes an exhibition space for the non art-oriented person. It’s a document of the democratisation of the public domain, through a tradition which allows artistic expression and experimentation for anyone, under the gaze of a watchful even if disengaged audience.
The presented collection of posters, possibly a study of non-intentional art under the scrutiny of the public eye, constitutes an archive and an ode to amateur, home made graphic design, made possible through the democratisation of artistic means and software such as word art, paint and clip art. A non-hierarchical demonstration of taste and aesthetic is catapulted into the streets and now gathered in the exhibition space. Perhaps involuntarily, the posters bear a sense of humour and irony to the rest of the on-looking public.
Blerta Hoçia reflects on the consequences of the pandemic in Albania, from the quarantine of the population to the state of siege, where as a result basic human rights were significantly reduced. Her adultery tells the story of one night, that of May 17, 2020, the demolition of the National Theater and police violence against citizens, artists and activists.
