Dora García (ed.): If I Could Wish for Something (2021)

15 May 2022, dusan

“In 1930, German film composer Friedrich Hollaender wrote “Wenn ich mir was wünschen dürfte”, famously performed by Marlene Dietrich. It inspired the foundation of Dora García’s exhibition ‘If I Could Wish for Something’ and this accompanying publication. The song serves as a powerful expression of a complex concept: sadness as political strength. García in turn connects this concept with women’s struggles for emancipation. Disappointed in the promise made to them by revolutionary movements, which for now remains unfulfilled, women are seeking to transform this feeling to overcome the temptation of victimhood and open up the possibility of an ethical encounter. ”

With texts by Antonio Cataldo, Saddie Choua, Paloma Contreras Lomas, Dora García, Agnieszka Gratza, Carla Lamoyi, Hilde Methi, Andrea Valdés, Sayak Valencia, and Pieternel Vermoortel.

Publisher Fotogalleriet, Oslo, and Netwerk Aalst, Aalst, 2021
ISBN 9789081080064, 9081080067
222 pages
via KHiO

Exhibition, (2)
Publisher
WorldCat

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Whitney Trettien: Cut/Copy/Paste: Fragments from the History of Bookwork (2021)

26 January 2022, dusan

“In Cut/Copy/Paste, Whitney Trettien journeys to the fringes of the London print trade to uncover makerspaces and collaboratories where paper media were cut up and reassembled into radical, bespoke publications. Bringing these long-forgotten objects back to life through hand-curated digital resources, Trettien shows how early experimental book hacks speak to the contemporary conditions of digital scholarship and publishing. As a mixed-media artifact itself, Cut/Copy/Paste enacts for readers what Trettien argues: that digital forms have the potential to decenter patriarchal histories of print.

From the religious household of Little Gidding—whose biblical concordances and manuscripts exemplify protofeminist media innovation—to the queer poetic assemblages of Edward Benlowes and the fragment albums of former shoemaker John Bagford, Cut/Copy/Paste demonstrates history’s relevance to our understanding of current media. Tracing the lives and afterlives of amateur “bookwork,” Trettien creates a method for identifying and comprehending hybrid objects that resist familiar bibliographic and literary categories. In the process, she bears witness to the deep history of radical publishing with fragments and found materials.

With many of Cut/Copy/Paste’s digital resources left open for additions and revisions, this book reimagines our ideas of publication while fostering a spirit of generosity and inclusivity.”

Publisher University of Minnesota Press, Dec 2021
Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License
ISBN 9781517904098, 1517904099
328 pages

Publisher
WorldCat

HTML (Manifold)

Claudia Mareis, Nina Paim (eds.): Design Struggles: Intersecting Histories, Pedagogies, and Perspectives (2021)

26 January 2022, dusan

Design Struggles critically assesses the ways in which the design field is involved in creating, perpetuating, promoting and reinforcing injustice and inequality in social, political, economic, cultural and ecological systems. This book shows how this entanglement arose from Eurocentric and neoliberal thinking. The voices and practices represented here propose to question and disrupt the discipline of design from within, by problematizing the very notions of design. They aim to do so by generating new, anti-racist, post-capitalist, queer-feminist, environmentally conscious and community-based ideas on how to transform it. In this way, Design Struggles strives to forge sustainable, new practices that challenge the status quo and amplify underrepresented voices, both in the world of design, as well as beyond.

In order to reimagine design as an unbound, ambiguous, and unfinished practice, this publication gathers a diverse array of perspectives, ranging from social and cultural theory, design history, design activism, sociology, anthropology, critical and political studies, with a focus on looking at design through the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, culture, class, and beyond. The book combines the latest comprehensive insights (rooted in design practices) with engaging and accessible storytelling. In doing so, Design Struggles brings together an urgent and expansive array of voices and views, representing those engaged in struggles with, against or around design.”

Contributors: Danah Abdulla, Tanveer Ahmed, Zoy Anastassakis, Ahmed Ansari, Brave New Alps, Johannes Bruder, Cheryl Buckley, Sria Chatterjee, Alison J. Clarke, Sasha Costanza-Chock, Paola De Martin, Decolonising Design, depatriarchise design, Bianca Elzenbaumer, Arturo Escobar, Kjetil Fallan, Griselda Flesler, Corin Gisel, Matthew Kiem, Claudia Mareis, Ramia Mazé, Tania Messell, Anja Neidhardt, Nan O’Sullivan, Maya Ober, Nina Paim, Luiza Prado de O. Martins, Mia Charlene White.

Publisher Valiz, Amsterdam, May 2021
Plural series, 3
Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License
ISBN 9789492095886, 9492095882
411 pages

Review: Saraleah Fordyce (Design and Culture, 2021).

Publisher
WorldCat

PDF, PDF (21 MB)