Throw “Hilgersen”

hinzkunst blankets like their cozy throw Hilgersen are the perfect companion: at home on the couch, as a bedspread, as a tapestry …

Slanted Summer School On the Docks 2023

Welcome to the Slanted Summer School, taking place from August 8th–11th, 2023, in the stunning offices of Slanted Publishers on the docks of Karlsruhe Rheinhafen, Germany. This exclusive four-day program offers a unique opportunity to learn from industry professionals and gain hands-on experience in editorial design and editing.

With a small group of approx. 12 participants, you’ll receive individualized attention and guidance to develop your skills and hone your craft. By the end of the program, you’ll have designed a printed publication as a team with a maximum of 80 pages, size 16 × 24 cm, which will be distributed via the online shop at slanted.de in a small print run.

In addition to the intensive program of the Slanted Summer School, we are excited to announce that there will be a special excursion to the renowned ZKM museum, a unique institution in Europe dedicated to the intersection of art and technology. This visit will provide a chance to see some of the most innovative and thought-provoking exhibits in contemporary art and design, and gain inspiration for your own work (admission fee not included).

The Summer School provides not only an exceptional learning experience but also a friendly and welcoming environment. Drinks during workshop times will be provided, and the good vibes are guaranteed.

The summer school is supervised by Julia Kahl, the co-founder of Slanted Publishers in 2014, and a well-known figure in the world of typography and design. Her passion for typography, editorial design, and all things print is evident in her work, which has received international recognition. Julia’s experience as a designer, editor, and publisher, combined with her love for connecting with people and cultures from all over the world, makes her the perfect guide for this summer school.

In addition to running Slanted Publishers, Julia also teaches typography and editorial design at various universities and regularly participates in international design juries. With her guidance, you will gain insights into the latest design trends, develop new skills, and learn how to create compelling and effective editorial designs.

The Slanted Summer School is an intense and immersive experience, designed to make the most of your time and help you achieve your full potential in making a publication. Our daily schedule starts promptly at 9:30 am and typically runs until 6:00 pm, with a 1-hour lunch break and some shorter breaks throughout the day to allow for rest and relaxation.

Schedule:

  • Monday (07.08.): Arrival, Come Together in the evening
  • Tuesday (08.08.): 1. Workshop Day, start at 9:30 a.m., 1 hr lunch break, end at 6 p.m.
  • Wednesday (09.08.): 2. Workshop Day, start at 9:30 a.m., 1 hr lunch break, end at 6 p.m.
  • Thursday (10.08.), 3. Workshop Day, start at 9:30 a.m., 1 hr lunch break, end at 6 p.m.
  • Friday (11.08.): 4. Workshop Day, start at 9:30 a.m., end at 2 p.m., Departure

Target group:

While the Slanted Summer School is an ambitious and intensive program, we welcome participants of all levels of experience and expertise. You do not need any specific typographic knowledge or experience specific experience with editorial design. All we require is a highly motivated group of individuals who are enthusiastic about graphic design and typography with basic knowledge of the common software. It is designed to appeal to graphic design enthusiasts of all levels, from beginners to experts. Photographers, illustrators and creatives from other fields are welcome as well to engage with their own expertise.

Miscellaneous:

  • Bring your own equipment/laptop with Adobe Suite. If you’re into photography, bring your camera, if you’re into illustrating, bring your drawing tablet, if you’re into sound, bring your recorder, if you’re into …
  • The course language will be adapted to the participants (English/German)
  • You will receive a certificate of participation at the end of the course (if you want to have one)

Don’t miss this chance to expand your knowledge and build your portfolio under the guidance of the most respected figures in the industry!

Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh

“It is a sign of wisdom to negotiate instead of fighting” spoke Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnamese revolutionary and politician. He died in 1969 during the Vietnam War and did not live to see the withdrawal of the American invaders and the reunification of his beloved homeland. As prime minister and president until his death, he determined the destiny of his country, whose people affectionately called him Uncle Hồ. Influenced by deep Marxist-Leninist convictions, he became a worldwide symbol of the striving for self-determination. Even today, gratitude for this is omnipresent in the Vietnamese population.

The book is a collection of selected quotes from Hồ Chí Minh juxtaposed with Michael Herman’s expressive photographs of modern Vietnam. Especially today, in turbulent times of increasing wars and crises, it can be useful to take a look at the history of this special people, and in the best case to learn from it.

Cercle Magazine #11—Mythologie

At first transmitted orally, then through writing, the myth is a story, it relates something.
This narration around a fictional tale is what makes human beings distinctive. And so, each population has its own founding story, which, following migrations, has developed and been nourished by other narratives. From the mythology of a people, an event, a person or a theme, these myths have permeated our way of understanding history, geography and the arts. Through desire to give things meaning, this powerful permeation of the myth sometimes requires analysis, so that we can understand our past, comprehend our present and envisage our future.
The creators of this magazine also wanted to approach this theme as a traveller rather than a pilgrim. Rather than covering each and every mythology, their desire is to approach stories in an arbitrary fashion, guided by their curiosity—which is obviously steeped in their culture. Following this common thread of visual and written narration, Cercle met a historian, a dancer, and choreographer, an anthropologist, and an astrobiologist, whose work and research is in areas with mythological significance.
Roaming through the founding narratives of the creation of humanity by way of the construction of an idea and the interpretation of a myth as a source of creation, the creators observed their way of life with regard to mythological figures and open a window onto the future. They also voyage from the colossal to the tiny, from the brutal to the illuminated, from the iconic to the heroic, from the depths of the earth to far distant galaxies!
Through the prism of writing, photography, painting, music, video, or just a simple fragrance, whatever the medium, we are always partial to listening to stories, from every time and every region of the globe.
Once upon a time…

Über Exoten—Slanted on the Docks

As part of a 3-day workshop by Julia Kahl, 18 students from the Design Department of the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences were on location at the new rooms of Slanted Publishers in Karlsruhe’s Rheinhafen and dealt intensively with the area and people behind. The result is a small, fine publication that offers a glimpse behind the scenes: Über Exoten—Slanted on the Docks.

The editorial by Manuel Gensheimer describes the publication vividly as follows: “At the foot of the energy mountain, hidden amongst scrap metal collectors, glaziers, painters, cargo ships, a canoe club, a steel factory, and a dog boarding kennel. A small, red container. Where men meet to make love on the street corner, art students organize pop-up parties, and pensioners book harbor tours with cod. The Rhine port of Karlsruhe. At any rate, it is one of the largest inland ports in Germany. When viewed from above, the harbor basins resemble a pitchfork. Or is it the Devil’s Trident? A cactus? Whatever. The Nördliche Uferstraße runs along the end of the upper harbor basin. The new home of Slanted Publishers.

The container proudly fills half the room and greets you as you enter in an alarm red robe. It is open on two sides, a small sofa invites you to procrastinate, the Slanted neon sign dangles from the top and illuminates the room with sweet charm.

Warm colors, flashy book spines, adjustable tables with freshly calibrated screens, a cowhide rug, a waist-high wooden lipstick, absurd amounts of peppermint tea, huge letters, towering books, tiny books, magazines, more magazines, still more magazines, out-of-print special editions, prototypes hot off the press, a sunny yellow beanbag, and loads of plants. One of them tries—unsuccessfully—to conceal the fridge-sized server box with its enormous leaves. It defends itself bravely with non-stop flashing lights. Enough Internet.

So what is it that they do here, anyway? Graphic design? Books? Magazines? Writing? Art? “We love books,” says Julia Kahl, one of the founders of Slanted Publishers. One thing is certain: this is no ordinary publishing house, no classic graphic design studio, it’s somewhere in between and something entirely its own. Someone once said “Porn for Typelovers.” Fitting.

This is where magic happens, shrill color tones and chunky letters, halftone photos, and italic type, on 120-gramme glossy paper, with embossing and special colors. One issue about New York, the next Tokyo, or Stockholm. Whether Bavaria or Rwanda, Slanted Magazine is a must-have among designers. In addition to the inhouse magazine, books are published about art, typography, posters, cultural identities, principles of design, film festivals, and skate parks. A blog became a magazine, a magazine became a publishing house. Julia and her team strikingly demonstrate that print is indeed alive and thriving.

In this publication, the authors omit nothing and take a close look. You get the full package. The premium box, so to speak. Including audio experiences and book spine skylines. The toxic green slough in the harbor basin is featured as well as the co-workers. You’ll learn all about the team’s favorite fonts and eating habits, the number of archived emails, and newsletter subscribers. A typeface is made from found letters, an illustration from refrigerator leftovers, a Where’s Wally picture from office inventory. It’s about contrasts and similarities, about inside and outside, about aesthetics and functionality. Come with us on a discovery tour, let us show you the world of Slanted.”

Über Exoten—Slanted on the Docks
3-day-workshop with students from the Department Design of University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt

Supervision: Julia Kahl
Participating students: Alicia Viktoria Kaiser, Anna Celina Fischer, Carla Trapp, Celina Otto, Denisa Theresa Holzapfel, Elvis Loos, Hannah Apollonia Stroiczek, Joana Scharnagl, Lemmi Karnop, Lisa Breu, Luca Haertel, Manuel Gensheimer, Max Bartunek, Max Mäder, Maximilian Walter, Milos Hesse, Robert Hohn, Teresa Van

Initiated by Prof. Dr. Sandra Hoffmann-Robbiani & Prof. Frank Philippin
Editorial: Manuel Gensheimer
Design: Anna Celina Fischer, Celina Otto, Denisa Theresa Holzapfel, Joana Scharnagl, Luca Haertel, Manuel Gensheimer, Max Mäder
Final Artwork: Julia Kahl, Clara Weinreich
Translation: Prof. Dr. Sandra Hoffmann-Robbiani
Edition: 250 copies

Teresa Mayr – Google Earth Book

“Teresa Mayr’s drawings do not show a homogeneous image space but rather a confluence of fragments from different screen surfaces: A view from Google Earth, a WhatsApp message, an Instagram post, a text file, the result of an image search—all this and much more can appear on the same sheet, even overlap, and thus increase one’s awareness of how many different things one is offered almost simultaneously on one screen. Most of it also calls for interaction, at least entices you to get involved directly, and so anyone sitting in front of a desktop or looking at their smartphone is always already in multitasking mode. Teresa Mayr’s drawings represent the artistic reflection about and coming to fruition of all this; in many delicate strokes that often almost seem to be dancing, they visualize the ‘agility,’ and indeed the velocity, of the goings-on on a screen.
For many people, looking at screens is their everyday life; in purely temporal terms, it may even constitute their first reality. It’s where they learn news from around the world, exchange private messages, inform themselves and converse with others. Via screen, they experience at least as much as they used to when they went outdoors and set off on walks or journeys. So it’s only natural now to rather capture what can be seen on screens than to draw in nature. This leaves the ‘added value’ of drawing unchanged: It immobilizes something one is otherwise actively connected with, and not even specifically aware of as long as one lives in and with it. Just as a peasant in Caspar David Friedrich’s time worked in nature and was only able to see his living world as such through drawings of trees or landscape paintings, today digital natives also need drawings or other static images without interactive features to be able to recognize what shapes their own reality at all.”
— Excerpt from Wolfgang Ullrich’s essay Trips on Screen—Teresa Mayr’s Drawings

Passivity—Between Resignation and Pacifism

“A pacifist is a rare beast in a bomb shelter.” The war in Ukraine challenged our idea of pacifism. Should Europe take up arms or not? Can it ease its conscience only with humanitarian aid? Isn’t Europe’s attitude towards the war mainly driven by economic motives? In Passivity, Ukrainian art curator Alexandra Tryanova and Belgian sociologist Pascal Gielen engage in a dialogue about this. In doing so, they not only talk about the current political situation, but also look at themselves; at their own fears and privileges. What is passivity in our own daily doings? When does pacifism turn into resignation? How do our surrounding media and culture contribute to such an attitude? Passivity does not provide unifying answers to these questions. Rather, it looks for ways to find peace with our own mixed feelings.
Alexandra Tryanova (Odesa, Ukraine, 1990) is an independent curator and researcher, currently living in Belgium. Her interests focus on artistic practices connected with collective memory, gender, institutional critique and Eastern European avant-gardes. Pascal Gielen is a writer and full professor of sociology of culture and politics at the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (ARIA) where he leads the Culture Commons Quest Office (CCQO). Polina Frank (Dnipro, Ukraine, 2000) is a (tattoo) artist and journalist. In 2022, following the occupation, she started to work as a volunteer supplier of military gear for Ukrainian armed forces. She travels back and forth between the Netherlands and Ukraine.
May 2023, Valiz supported by Support Fund for Ukrainian Artists NL

Some Magazine #16—Action

Since 2010, changing editorial teams of young design students research, write, layout, and produce the bi-annual Some Magazine. It is a part of the experimental design course of Prof. Sven Völker at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

Giving this issue the theme of “Action” is to acknowledge the obvious fact that standing still is no longer an option. When everything is in flux, action isn’t only essential for changing political and ethical systems, it becomes an essential force for understanding the power we hold in shaping our own lives. We may be living through times of intense turmoil, but these are also the periods in which we find the greatest and most wide-ranging opportunities for change. The potential is almost infinite—but only if we take a stance. The world isn’t going to wait for us.

Guest editors-in-chief of the new issue are journalists Hendrik Lakeberg and Hans Bussert. You’ll find exclusive shots and drawings of flying kite constructions by artist and illustrator Tomi Ungerer, a conversation with New York director Bharata Selassie, and also an entire street called “Danny the Street,” which is actually a super hero.

A Magazine for Visual Inventors!

Slanted Magazine #41—Amsterdam

The Slanted team went to Amsterdam to check out the design scene and fell for the charm of the city’s century-old “bruine kroegen” (brown cafes). Seeking refuge after bike rides to design studios, they were quickly won over by the cozy ambiance, dark wood, old-fashioned decor, and the aroma of fried croquettes.

Color and form play an important role in Amsterdam’s design, which is egalitarian and serves the masses. Design is ubiquitous in Amsterdam, from the bike path to the police cars and even the city crest. The maze of canals and the upcoming neighborhoods are characterized by muted tones, dominated by black cobblestones, and dark brick. Behind the facades it rattles. The Dutch have always let it rip. The orange is more intense, the red more luminous, the black more brutal. Design is radical, it crashes, it vibrates.

There are few places where color and form play such an important role. Design is innovative, modern, functional, and spiced with a pinch of humor. Design is about egalitarianism, not reserved for the wealthy elite. Design serves the masses. And so it happens that everything is professionally designed. The bike path, the kebab stand, the tax return form, the police cars, the park benches and trash cans, the vegetables.

In its 41st issue, Slanted gathers a selection of Amsterdam’s most brilliant minds and provides deep insights into their work and values in the magazine and in the numerous video interviews. Illustrations, interviews, essays, and an extensive appendix with many useful tips and an overview with the best Dutch writings complete the issue thematically.

Featured contributors: 75B, Athenaeum Boekhandel & Nieuwscentrum, Maarten Baptist, Blast Foundry, BNO, Irma Boom, Brût Homeware, Building Fictions, Mélanie Corre, Vanessa van Dam, DBXL, De Designpolitie, De Vorm, Javier Rodríguez Fernández, FreelingWaters, fw:books, Graypants, Hansje van Halem, Haller Brun, Olivier Heiligers, Juna Horstmans, Jeremy Jansen, Elisa van Joolen, Annabel Keijzer, KesselsKramer, Elisabeth Klement, Kooij, Lesley Moore, MacGuffin, MainStudio, martens and martens, Mass-Driver, Moniker, Michelangelo Nigra, nouch, Novo Typo, NXS WORLD, Moriz Oberberger, Our Polite Society, Revised, Charlotte Rohde, Rush Hour Music, Vera van de Seyp, Studio Jord Noorbeek, studioHendriksen, Sunne, Jolana Sýkorová, Terry Bleu, The Rodina, thonik, Kai Udema, Underwear, untold-stories, VANTOT, Jasper de Waard, Edgar Walthert, Julian Williams.

Beside the issue two very limited special editions have been published: A black long sleeve designed by graphic designer and creative coder Vera van de Seyp and silkscreen printed with fluorescent green by Everpress in an edition of 100 pieces only + a bundle with a DTF transfer print produced by express-transfer.de with which you can get creative. Check it our 🙂

Limited Special Edition Amsterdam: DTF Transfer Print + Slanted Magazine #41—Amsterdam

What is DTF? DTF is the short form of Direct to Film. In the DTF process, printing is done directly onto a film/foil, over which a hotmelt adhesive is spread. After drying, a fixed and finished transfer is obtained. This DTF transfer can then be pressed onto a variety of materials (cotton, polyester, leather and even solid materials)—a revolution in printing and our limited special edition on occasion of the release of Slanted Magazine #41—Amsterdam!

For the motif, creative coder Vera van de Seyp received a carte blanche from Slanted on the theme of Amsterdam. Her design is based on the reflections of the many bridges in the water of the Amsterdam canals, the coordinates indicate the position of the Dutch capital.

Application

  • Cut off the credits so that you iron on only the design
  • Press or iron for 12 seconds at 150°C, wait briefly and carefully peel off the backing paper—if you notice that it still does not peel off so well, iron/press again
  • The transfer is hotpeeled, which means you can peel off the backing paper hot
  • We recommend a re-pressing of approx. 4 sec. with the backing paper put back on
  • If necessary, pre-press the textile to remove any residual moisture
  • In the case of polyester fabrics, work with an additional cover (e.g. thin cloth) to prevent impressions from the press/iron. Also for polyester fabrics: Test pressing times, pressure and temperature in advance. It may be advisable to press or iron at a maximum of 140°C.

See our video tutorial here! You will receive a long-lasting print with a high wash resistance on textiles!

About Vera van de Seyp
veravandeseyp.com
@veravandeseyp

Vera van de Seyp is a computational designer and educator. Her work explores design systems, artificial intelligence, languages, and finding systems in chaos. She teaches and gives workshops and lectures to inspire makers to code and make their own design tools. Currently, Vera is part of MIT Media Lab as a research assistant in the Future Sketches group.

About express-transfer
express-transfer.de
@dtf_transfer_deutschland

express-transfer.de is a product of the German company Tonwerte Alex Kühn. After many years in the textile printing industry, including experience in flex and flock printing, screen printing, sublimation, and digital direct printing, the company introduced DTF—Direct to Film in 2022. Express-transfer delivers DTF transfers in the quality that will absolutely convince: brilliant colors, highly opaque white with an ultra-thin feel. You will love it!

Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Design: Vera van de Seyp
Production: express-transfer.de
Release April 2023
Printing: DTF transfer
Format: 14 × 16.4 cm
Edition: 200 pieces

Slanted Magazine #41—Amsterdam
Spring/Summer 2023

The Slanted team went to Amsterdam to check out the design scene and fell for the charm of the city’s century-old “bruine kroegen” (brown cafes). Seeking refuge after bike rides to design studios, they were quickly won over by the cozy ambiance, dark wood, old-fashioned decor, and the aroma of fried croquettes.

Color and form play an important role in Amsterdam’s design, which is egalitarian and serves the masses. Design is ubiquitous in Amsterdam, from the bike path to the police cars and even the city crest. The maze of canals and the upcoming neighborhoods are characterized by muted tones, dominated by black cobblestones, and dark brick. Behind the facades it rattles. The Dutch have always let it rip. The orange is more intense, the red more luminous, the black more brutal. Design is radical, it crashes, it vibrates.

There are few places where color and form play such an important role. Design is innovative, modern, functional, and spiced with a pinch of humor. Design is about egalitarianism, not reserved for the wealthy elite. Design serves the masses. And so it happens that everything is professionally designed. The bike path, the kebab stand, the tax return form, the police cars, the park benches and trash cans, the vegetables.

In its 41st issue, Slanted gathers a selection of Amsterdam’s most brilliant minds and provides deep insights into their work and values in the magazine and in the numerous video interviews. Illustrations, interviews, essays, and an extensive appendix with many useful tips and an overview with the latest Dutch typefaces complete the issue thematically.

Featured contributors: 75B, Athenaeum Boekhandel & Nieuwscentrum, Maarten Baptist, Blast Foundry, BNO, Irma Boom, Brût Homeware, Building Fictions, Mélanie Corre, Vanessa van Dam, DBXL, De Designpolitie, De Vorm, Javier Rodríguez Fernández, FreelingWaters, fw:books, Graypants, Hansje van Halem, Haller Brun, Olivier Heiligers, Juna Horstmans, Jeremy Jansen, Elisa van Joolen, Annabel Keijzer, KesselsKramer, Elisabeth Klement, Kooij, Lesley Moore, MacGuffin, MainStudio, martens and martens, Mass-Driver, Moniker, Michelangelo Nigra, nouch, Novo Typo, NXS WORLD, Moriz Oberberger, Our Polite Society, Revised, Charlotte Rohde, Rush Hour Music, Vera van de Seyp, Studio Jord Noorbeek, studioHendriksen, Sunne, Jolana Sýkorová, Terry Bleu, The Rodina, thonik, Kai Udema, Underwear, untold-stories, VANTOT, Jasper de Waard, Edgar Walthert, Julian Williams.

Limited Edition Long Sleeve Slanted × Everpress × Vera van de Seyp

On occasion of the release of Slanted Magazine #41—Amsterdam, we teamed up with Everpress and creative coder Vera van de Seyp to create a unique high-quality long sleeve with an eye-catching fluorescent silkscreen print. It is limited to only 100 pieces and available exclusively in the Slanted online shop.

For the motif of the limited edition, Vera van de Seyp received a carte blanche from Slanted on the theme of Amsterdam. Her design is based on the reflections of the many bridges in the water of the Amsterdam canals, the coordinates on the chest indicate the position of the Dutch capital.

The long sleeve with cuffs is cut to a regular fit, and is made from heavyweight 100% combed organic cotton. It is fair-wear, vegan and GOTS accredited as well as climate neutral, with 90% reduced CO2 achieved by better manufacturing. It is available in a unisex size of S–XL. To find the right size, please check the size chart in the images, the return is excluded for this product. To enjoy it for a long time, please wash your garment inside out on a cold cycle and do not tumble dry. Enjoy!

About Vera van de Seyp
veravandeseyp.com
@veravandeseyp

Vera van de Seyp is a computational designer and educator. Her work explores design systems, artificial intelligence, languages, and finding systems in chaos. She teaches and gives workshops and lectures to inspire makers to code and make their own design tools. Currently, Vera is part of MIT Media Lab as a research assistant in the Future Sketches group.

Slanted × Everpress—A perfect fit!
everpress.com
@everpresshq

Everpress is a global platform that allows artists to create t-shirts and other products in ways not possible before; and a destination where consumers can shop unique, sustainable apparel from independent artists and designers. But more deeply, it has become a platform for expression; one that goes beyond products — providing a vehicle for a vast community of artists around the world to communicate ideas, champion causes, and invest in themselves.

Since its launch in 2016, Everpress’ mission to support independent creatives and artists has seen over £7 million paid out to creators. As a B-Corp certified business, Everpress puts people and the planet on an equal par with profit, with a zero waste collection, ethically sourced garment materials, and SEDEX vetted production facilities and factory working conditions.

My Dreamhouse is not a House

My Dreamhouse is not a House is a long-term project by Julia Gaisbacher that focuses on the Austrian architect Eilfried Huth and one of the first, publicly funded participatory social housing projects in Austria from the 1970s. Huth developed a working method that allowed architects and future residents to collaborate on equal terms, resulting in single, occupant-designed houses within residential blocks. His projects were unique because no participatory approach was available outside the privately financed market in Austria at that time.
About 50 years later, Julia Gaisbacher started an artistic research project observing the results of Eilfried Huth’s architectural experiment. In interviews, she asked residents how they had experienced the participatory planning process and its impacts on the long-term living quality in these built environments and combined them with archive material. On a visual level she documented the unique facades of the houses each representing the owners.

Grafikmagazin 02.23—Digital Branding

As the name indicates, Grafikmagazin is a print magazine focusing on all things graphic design. Primarily it’s aimed at professional creatives and design students from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and beyond. Grafikmagazin presents outstanding work from graphic design, typography, illustration, photography, design theory, research, paper, and printing every two months.
The editorial team of Grafikmagazin created a variety of sections and categories but selected focus themes for each issue, like Digital Branding. The topics portray how imaginative, eclectic, and playful graphic design can be while featuring successful branding concepts and niche ideas.
The extensive Showroom section lets readers know other creatives and the stories behind design studios worldwide.
The Design & Research category presents interdisciplinary projects that show how science and research can benefit from creative solutions and play an active role in graphic design.
In the Production & Publishing section, everything revolves around print. You will find exquisite books, sophisticated annual reports, and high-quality embossed greeting cards. Also, the cover artists of each issue are interviewed or get to highlight their ideas.
Each cover is printed on a different paper, and the design interprets the particular Grafik+ theme more broadly or shares a fresh perspective on a unique design technique. The Grafikmagazin team, its correspondents, and freelancers are bound and driven by the firm belief that print is not dead. With the will to prove just how alive it is, and the motivation to start something fresh yet deeply traditional, they strive for nothing less than to create another print magazine that makes history.

Das gewöhnliche Design

Das gewöhnliche Design (The ordinary Design) is a hidden classic of German design history, something the vinyl era would have called a B-side hit.

As early as 1976 a group of students and young professors at the Faculty of Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt questioned the way design objects were generally perceived, talked and written about. Frustrated by the contrast of their self-perception as comprehensive designers and the prospect to have future careers as mere product stylists, they were looking for an alternative understanding of what constitutes good design. The group led by Friedrich Friedl and Gerd Ohlhauser started to collect ordinary things such as bottle openers, air pumps or bus timetables. In an ad-hoc approach these objects, all from anonymous authors, where exhibited at the faculty under the title The ordinary Design. This show, which presented only “boring” everyday commodities, surprisingly received national attention and discussions flared up in the design press. In a comical manner the young designers had used means of traditional exhibition design like velvet covered pedestals, usually reserved for “high art.”

Together with the unspectacular exhibits this provoked or at least irritated the audience. At the same time the absence of any heroic, iconic or aesthetically refined qualities among the things shown seemed to mock the whole design education. The approach was original enough so that the Rhenish Open-Air and Regional Museum Kommern bought the extraordinary ordinary exhibits, repeated the show and printed an exhibition catalog. The catalog (104 pages) contained among others contributions by Bazon Brock, Peter von Kornatzki and Adelhart Zippelius. The 110 black-and-white photographs provide a specific snapshot of what unspectacular product normality meant in the mid-70s.

Although this must be considered one of the earliest attempts to anchor appreciation of mundane qualities in design discourse, the catalog became a rarity and is now available in only a few libraries. Newly edited by Frank Philippin and Florian Walzel, the facsimile Das gewöhnliche Design presented by Slanted returns the work to a wider audience. More than just making a design classic available again this renews the question: How much of design is owed to the ordinary? In a time that dedicates its cultural attention almost exclusively to novelty and exceptionalism the every day utility is the silent opponent of “design.”

Queer Exhibition Histories

Queer Exhibition Histories comprises case studies highlighting the countless efforts, both large and small, of LGBTQIA+ artists and curators, centring on queer art exhibitions and their modes of documentation and archiving. Often, the legacy of these projects largely depends on personal archives, memories, and paraphernalia, with the overriding notion, or need, for public display. In these contexts, “public” is relative in events that were either short-lived, held under the veil of domestic spaces, or kept exclusive for those “in the know.” Therefore, they were not exclusively artistic, but could equally be discursive, activist, educational, or serve as a tool for community building. At the intersection of queerness and contemporary art, this volume considers how the efforts of LGBTQIA+ artists have advanced their public presence in museums and society alike.

Contributors: Tawanda Appiah, Aaron Betsky, Övül Durmusoglu, Cédric Fauq, Aleksandra Gajowy, Jessica Gysel, Bas Hendrikx, Valentina Iancu, Katrin Kivimaa, Ryan Kearney, Léon Kruijswijk, Elisabeth Lebovici, Joci Márton, Edwin Nasr, Katarina Pirak Sikku, Francois Piron, Karol Radziszewski, Sylvia Sadzinski, Sara Salminen, Liang-Kai Yu

Valiz with support from Mondriaan Fonds

Dream Big Cat, A4 hand printed woodcut print

The little cat is a superhero! A great children’s room motif for brave boys and girls with big dreams. The hand-made woodcut print is a wonderful wall decoration in the baby and children’s room.

3-color woodcut, DIN A4, printed area: approx. 15 cm x 21 cm, hand-printed original graphics, limited edition of 15 pieces, numbered and signed. Every copy is hand-printed by the designer Pia Kolle.

Productive Archiving—Artistic Strategies, Future Memories, and Fluid Identities

Productive Archiving discusses a variety of problems archival organizations. It mainly focuses on the following three issues with archival organizations that are usually overlooked: first, the question of inclusion in or exclusion from the archive; second, the loss of individuality and specificity in the archive, the danger of homogenization; and third, that archiving may become a form of pigeonholing, boxing specific identities into a confined space. Avoiding the archive because of these problems is not an option, because archival organization is a basic symbolic mode on the basis of which we organize our lives, the past, the present, and the future.

What this book suggests is that it is best to explore constructive and creative solutions for these problems. Especially artistic archives seem to be able to develop these possible solutions, because they offer speculative, unexpected ways to order, select, and narrate specific information, and bring about new connections and archival organizations.

Supported by Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.

Sola

Sola begins with the narration of a dream in luminous shapes and colors: a house in which light shines in every corner, surrounded by a flowering garden—a utopian place of refuge, communal togetherness, and a life in harmony with nature. But like in a moment of awakening, the harmonious ideal breaks against a reality that offers neither security nor confidence. It is a reality in which crises like climate change threaten the fragile balance of the environment and call the certainties of our everyday lives into question.

In her new book, Malwine Stauss uses radiant watercolors to create a deeply personal insight into an emotional world shaped by the tensions, fears, and hopes of our present time. With multi-layered graphic compositions that are abstract and accessible at the same time, Sola offers an expressive visual language that invites us to pause for thought.

Hexen

Do witches exist? Of course, maybe they even have their studio next door.

In her book debut for Rotopol, Malwine Stauss investigates the borderlands between art and alchemy, between the abstract and concrete. Inspired by the spiritual art of the 19th and 20th centuries, the author plays with radiant colors and shapes to outline decisive questions: how does one draw the invisible? Does magic exist? What is inspiration? The gaze into the past becomes a door to the future: the falsely neglected female artists of today have a lot in common with the witches of the past. Both cross borders to find their personal freedom, both are highly in tune with their environment and have a sensibility for the openings in the seemingly consistent order of society.

Fürchtetal

“Like a spotlight, one decision leaves an entire life in shadow. The darkness swallows the memories. Even if someone asks about him. Then, like a hammer, the ending shatters any words about travel, friends, family and happiness.”

After the sudden suicide of their father, two siblings begin a silent correspondence: she writes to him, he sends drawings back. Each filled page makes visible what words often lack. The dialog opens a world full of enchanted memories, riddles, and feelings that, as intimate as they may be, bring to light something universal: that nothing is as one expects, fears, or hopes. Sister and brother let themselves be accompanied a short way through their present and their past. In the forest of their childhood, on the way through the valley, in multi-layered image-word compositions and allegorical and occasionally ironic drawings they show that in the end a place is often surprisingly more than just a catastrophe.

To Be A Brave Scout

Ready for a trip into the wilderness? With her new book, Julia Kluge invites you to wondrous adventures in nature. In a tongue-in-cheek style, she presents all sorts of impressions from the lives of brave scouts—from hiking at sunrise and picking delicious berries to camping under the stars. The dreamy and expressive illustrations make familiar flora and fauna seem excitingly alien. No wonder, because after all, a practiced look at nature brings all kinds of amazing things to light. And should life in the wilderness ever get dicey, you can always rely on your fellows.

In To Be a Brave Scout the seriousness of the Scout movement, founded at the beginning of the last century, gives way to a timeless fascination for the forms of animals and plants, for a life in and with nature. The atmospheric colors of the book exude a longing for freedom and tempt you to lose yourself while reading.