Things

Shout out to John the postman – a great man we have come to know at the new studio because the postbox is at the bottom of the door and he either can’t see it or he’s got a bad back, but probably it’s just because we get epic amounts of post. Some of which are this weeks featured few, that is to say, Shoppinghour Magazine, A Touch of Code from Gestalten, Ryan McGinley’s issue of Mono.Kultur, Future Folk at Goldsmiths uni and the guys behind the zine Moronic.

Shoppinghour Magazine Issue 7 edited by Peter Eramian and Yasushi Tanaka-Gutiez. Design by Think Work Observe

Shoppinghour Magazine is a combination of critical theory, philosophy, poetry and art A really interesting and rich selection of photographers feature as does illustration but it’s the writing (and the contemporary design) that talks loudest. Though “tackling” seems a heavy handed word when you consider how deftly they handle social and political issues. Particularly enjoying the bold statement chapters that seem appropriate for the occasionally political and always opinionated editorial that they proceed.
www.shoppinghourmagazine.com
www.t-wo.it

Daydreaming: Ryan McGinley Mono.Kultur #27

“I love the idea of the unexpected.” reads the cover. Me too. Rather less easy to handle is the (at first) gushing editorial about the “photographer of the now”, “never seen before” Ryan McGinley. You quickly concede to the dark (or rather brightly coloured, light, free, mostly naked) side of things as you make your way through image after quite brilliant image, and read a sort of lusty/painful account of life as he knows it. Meanwhile you just, sort of, want to be him by the end of it. Published by the ever good Mono.Kultur.
www.mono-kultur.com

Moronic Brendan Baker and Daniel Evans

A collaborative photographic study of all things curious by Brendan Baker and Daniel Evans. This includes several bums (actual derrieres), a fish with arms, flags and some men clothed in foliage. Each image is accompanied by an abstract, fractured sentence – like for the bush-men, the quote reads “You can just be yourself today . Act natural”, which I really like. Lovely zine, can’t quite grasp the title but it looks good on the marble cover.
www.cargocollective.com/danielevans
www.cargocollective.com/brendanbaker

Future Folk Goldsmiths Design students

The season is upon us and undoubtedly every graduate up and down the country is suffering from the big A and experiencing the palpitations of 73-year-old smoker. We received a rather lovely looking catalog of exhibiters for Goldsmiths design course team-up. Printed at Ditto press, with a constant (and good) format that both equalises each person within the design and gives them individual posters. Interesting bit of writing on their site about the whole affair that ends evocatively on the statement that “questions in a time of contradiction are perhaps the only thing that won’t cause any harm.”
www.futurefolkdesign.co.uk

A Touch of Code Gestalten

In full, A Touch of Code: Interactive, Installations and Experiences is a reference-heavy, stop-at-every-page-and-say-“cool” sort of book that can briefly be defined by the themes: look; touch; explore; engage; intervene. Showcased are the vast technical, community lead installations and art pieces plus incidental interventions between all of the above. The preface by Prof. Joachim Sauter does it justice and the people featured include many of our favourites, including Troika and UVA.
www.gestalten.com/touch-of-code