Publishing as Artistic Practice
The anthology Publishing as Artistic Practice, edited by literary scholar Dr. Annette Gilbert, is about artistic publishing and collects numerous contributions by scholars and artists. We worked closely with the editor in order to meld form and content as seamlessly as possible, and also as the idea of artistic publishing should be expressed in the design. Every individual text contribution has its own title page, which visually announces and interprets the respective content in different ways: For example, by drawing inspiration from a well-known book cover, by distorting the letters, or by making the portrait of the author unrecognisable. In addition, we made a visual contribution to the content of the book in the form of quotations and inserts that reflect the artistic potential of the book as a medium. For instance, in a passage of text concerning the death of the author, we inserted a page with a large black rectangle—a reference to Lawrence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy (1767)—visualising the death of protagonist. The interventions are explained in the “Note on the Design” at the end of the book. This meta-level also influenced the design of the cover, which lists the book’s key bibliographical and distributional data in order to illustrate the standard parameters and framework conditions of publishing. Also by inverting the back and front of the cover material—the inside is turned inside out—light is shed on otherwise invisible aspects of bookmaking.
Year • 2016
Client • Dr. Annette Gilbert, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Media • Book (16 × 24 cm, softcover, 304 pages)
Publisher • Sternberg Press