Eleni Papazoglou’s experimental publication sits somewhere between a museum archive and an Argos catalogue

When devising an art book to house your creative work, your bog-standard catalogue might seem an unlikely object to turn to for inspiration. But that’s exactly where the artist and designer Eleni Papazogolou started the process for their new catalogue-cum-art-book, Products & Services. Together with Foolscap Editions founder Daniel Fletcher, Eleni leafed through references like Argos and Whole Earth catalogues, as well as an array of indexes and instruction manuals. Eleni wasn’t just looking to this ephemera for visual inspiration, but for theoretical guidance too. At the centre of the book sits an important question: why does our society put so much value on ‘selling’ everything?

The book is a fluid extension of Eleni’s creative practice, visual language and conceptual approach. At university, studying for a degree in graphic design, Eleni found herself developing a “curiosity in systems, notions of accessibility and authorship and value, as well as what it means to perform creative labour in a commercial world”. Much of Eleni’s physical practice is based on taking the visual language of things we know well and are exposed to every day – like retail, packaging, and signage – and subverting them, as a means of questioning or celebrating their “overseen value”. They continue to play with these concepts by operating in a variety of different contexts, such as galleries, shops, streets, and educational clients.

While some of the artworks throughout Products and Services, might look digital, they’re in fact all created by hand, “lifting and copying as if running a bootleg operation from my studio”, says Eleni. They use fluorescent colours, found and manipulated type and standardised forms, but, importantly “in all the wrong ways”. Throughout Products and Services you’ll find misspelt slogans, bootleg logos, global display all overlapping in a seemingly haphazard, or – as Eleni puts it – a “frivolous” way. But, as a whole, this effect makes the pages artworks in themselves – a satisfying fusion of many parts. “I was keen to work with a ubiquitous format [the book] attentively, turning the commercial into an art object, merging so-called high and low culture, throw away and precious,” says Eleni.

For Daniel, one of the most satisfying parts of being a publisher is the physicality of form. “The tactile and intimate experience of handling a publication is irreplaceable,” Daniel says. “While digital media offers new ways to display art, it heightens the importance of creating unique publications that offer something screens can’t.” This ethos is one that for Daniel, speaks to a specific part of Products & Services, the Our Range section, in which 30 of Eleni’s artworks are deconstructed and then reprinted with six Pantone colours with CMYK inserts. “Eleni developed a diagrammatic language that worked with the artworks to illustrate how they could be assembled and built – a hypothetical take on some of the machine manuals and catalogues that were early references in the project,” says Daniel. “Essentially each page has been artworked with the same attention to detail as if we were producing a fine-art silkscreen print.” The tactility and attention to detail for this aspect of the publication means it’s an aspect that can “only fully be appreciated when handling it in real life”.

A key part of bringing Products & Services to life was inviting others to get involved. Three commissioned pieces of writing sit within its pages, from Elaine M L Tam, Lucy Cowling, and Lisa Sudhibhasilp, as well as a re-published chapter from the theorist Joshua Simon. Douglas Cantor took the photographs throughout, and William Layall, Foolscap Edition’s designer, worked with Douglas as well as Eleni’s archive. This broader involvement didn’t only make the book richer, but helped Eleni reflect on her practice. “The collaborative process also became a moment of reflection: I had to clarify my thoughts and formalise my interests in order to invite others to take part,” they say.