The older or more misprinted photographs are, the more Outer Space Press is drawn to them

Magda Wysocka and Claudio Pogo, founders of Outer Space Press, have been building up an eclectic library of found photography for years: “We collect discarded print media like old books, vintage magazines, and photo prints. We also gather photographic imagery from various archives, originally not intended as art. These images, from science, education, erotica, and journalism, are extracted from their contexts in order for us to create new narratives,” says Magda. With these discarded print products from the past as a raw material for their artist books, the duo have been publishing under Outer Space Press since 2016.

“We love imperfections in photography – the worse these found materials are printed or aged, the more we are drawn to them,” says Claudio. These kinds of rough-edged vintage photographs that have now “lost their purpose” are reimagined in the inky, saturated pages of their ongoing series Dead Pages – a line of publications that “comes from the idea of giving images new life in a different form”, says Magda. Previous issues of the project have explored photographic material such as erotica mail-order slips from the 60s (issue No.2), poster spreads from the German youth magazine Bravo (issue No.3), and a manipulated Polish photobook of dog portraits combined with American portraits from the 80s (Issue No.4). Each publication in the series is a collection of large, loosely bound, folded sheets enclosed in a screen-printed PVC sleeve, “printed on demand in small batches, keeping production costs low [...] allowing us to publish just for fun”, Claudio explains.

With a magical combination of Magda’s expertise in printmaking and Claudio’s background in cinematography and photographic development, the duo are continually developing new ways to print and produce these kinds of artist books. Turning most often to the hands-on, affordable process of Risograph printing for its grainy visual appeal — “reminiscent” of their vintage source material – the pair have developed a bit of a signature style for their artist books over the years. “It could be described as minimal and elegant on the outside, but dark, rough, heavy, saturated on the inside,” says Magda.

Something that the publishing pair are determined to keep alive through their imprint is the traditional art of bookbinding. With their Berlin-based studio standing as an equipped bindery, Magda and Claudio, are not only making every impression in house, but can also be found section sewing book blocks, foil stamping covers and making cases by hand for every project that they publish. “Our book design approach is heavily influenced by the physicality of the book,” says Claudio. “For us material choices are as important as printing quality, typography, and layout.”

Producing everything from scratch in their studio ensures that all Outer Space books have their “human quality” and are each “artworks in their own right” — something that is integral to their creative purpose, shares Magda. “Each sheet is manually handled, and every step, from collating to casing in, is done by us… It’s liberating to produce whatever we want, but it also means a huge commitment to each project,” she says.

Speaking of commitment, the pair are giving their all to new publishing projects, with some wonderful things in the works. We’ll give you a short sneak peak: their upcoming Dead Pages issue will include “a rare Swedish erotic magazine titled Bilderbok”; they may be delving into the New York Public Library's Picture Collection for another upcoming venture; and, last but not least, they are planning a release of a book about “a 1920s pornography collection of a vampire” this winter. So look out for more saturated, grainy and elegant photobooks from Outer Space.