Day 01 NYC: MoMA: Manhattan Transcripts – Bernhard Tschumi

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"
The Manhattan Transcripts
1976-1981

Architecture is not simply about space and form, but also about event, action, and what happens in space.

The Manhattan Transcripts differ from most architectural drawings insofar as they are neither real projects nor mere fantasies. Developed in the late '70s, they proposed to transcribe an architectural interpretation of reality. To this aim, they employed a particular structure involving photographs that either direct or "witness" events (some would call them "functions," others "programs"). At the same time, plans, sections, and diagrams outline spaces and indicate the movements of the different protagonists intruding into the architectural "stage set." The Transcripts' explicit purpose was to transcribe things normally removed from conventional architectural representation, namely the complex relationship between spaces and their use, between the set and the script, between "type" and "program," between objects and events. Their implicit purpose had to do with the 20th-century city.

The dominant theme of The Transcripts is a set of disjunctions among use, form, and social values; the non-coincidence between meaning and being, movement and space, man and object was the starting condition of the work. Yet the inevitable confrontation of these terms produced effects of far-ranging consequence. The Transcripts aimed to offer a different reading of architecture in which space, movement and events are independent, yet stand in a new relation to one another, so that the conventional components of architecture are broken down and rebuilt along different axes.

While the programs used for The Manhattan Transcripts are of the most extreme nature, they also parallel the most common formula plot: the archetype of murder. Other phantasms were occasionally used to underline the fact that perhaps all architecture, rather than being about functional standards, is about love and death. By going beyond the conventional definition of use and program, The Transcripts used their tentative format to explore unlikely confrontations."

Excerpts/ Notes: solidification of movement // solidification of the matrix of space through the intermediary of the photograph --> frames -- black frames as imposing order

Oskar Schlemmer: "the dancer was afterall moving his body like in a piece of clay. as if space was a soft and pliable substance" (><)








 

Day 01 NYC: MoMA – John Armleder

"here he explores conventions of abstractions – such as variations on geometric forms and illusions of positive and negative space – through the manipulation of ready-made typographic plates. … For these works, Armleder removed the type and manipulated the components aligned for printing. Eliminating any legible content, he has transformed what could have been an ordinary book page into an abstract composition based in lines and planes." (accompanying text, moma)

VorOrt – exhibition at Print Museum Leipzig

With works from students from Halle, Leipzig and Weimar.

Jenseits der Phantom Kommunikation

(Beyond Phantom Communication)


"Die Erkenntnis, dass die Welt sich ungerührt ohne uns weitergedreht hat, mag im ersten Moment schmerzlich sein – doch damit beginnt die Befreiung."



by Sieglinde Geisel (also seen at Type in the 21st Century, Druckmuseum Leipzig)
Full text: dradio,  ><)

Katja Thomas

E i n  b e i n a h e  a n g e m e s s e n e s  S p r e c h e n

(an almost appropriate speaking) summary; in the act of writing what is named (e.g. a gallopping horse and an indian in a writing by kafka) immediatly fleas, disappears, as soon as we try to catch, describe, give it imagined form, the power of writing of words resides in this disappearing, its fleeing, ---

a beautiful excerpt i found at Druckmuseum Leipzig in their current exhibition Type in the 21st Century. It might be published in this book: "Kein Hügel für die wilden Pferde" (Connewitzer Verlag)

Pierre Pané Farré

"Pierre Pané-Farré is a type designer born in Germany. With a background in graphic design and illustration, Pierre studied at the Fachhochschule in Wismar and, later, at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, from where he graduated Cum Laude in 2012.

His thesis focused on the development of the book cover in the early 19th century, while his practical work explored and revived the technique of compound-plate printing, using Pierre's own woodcut poster types." (><)

compound-plate printing allows to print two colors simultaneously.

Congreve compound-plate printing:
Congreve’s scheme was outlined in an 1820 pamphlet. It comprised two main processes. First, the banknote printing plate would consist of two parts: the upper one would have shaped holes in it, into which identical protuberances in the lower one fitted. Once interlocked together, the two parts would be engraved simultaneously with complex geometric patterns that overlapped across both of them. Secondly, when in use on a specially devised printing press, each plate would be inked in a different colour before being brought together to produce a two-colour image from a single impression. So, the process was ‘compound’ in two senses: it used pairs of plates to make two-colour images but, most importantly, its strength came from employing both geometric patterns and multiple colours in such a way that the two elements could not be used separately to achieve the same result. In Congreve’s words, the process was ‘indivisible’.
(British Library ><)

"The two parts of a compound printing plate. The projections on the right-hand plate correspond to the holes in that on the left. Each plate made a different coloured impression."
© Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library






















A side view of the geometric lathe built by Bryan Donkin. The tool holder is on the right, the headstock and mandrel that held the plate being engraved is in the centre, and the mechanism to produce the geometric patterns is on the left.
© Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library

Kodoji Press Baden

I discovered Kodoji Press at: it's a book it's a stage it's a public space (see post below)
This book: Karaoke: Photographic Quotes by Thomas Seelig (ed.) (><)

Other books & Information on Kodoji Press: (><)

It's a book it's a stage it's a public space

(independant book fair at Central Theater Leipzig, 16.03.2013)

(picture by artschoolvets ><)

Lothar Reher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

Grafiker, Buchgestalter
Am 29. Juni 1932 in Marienburg/Westpreußen geboren, lebt in Berlin.

Article on mdr;  (><)

Schwarz und Weiß

Reher ordnet nicht nur Dinge zu einer neuen Aussage an, das Gleiche tut er auch mit Porträts, indem er sie zerschneidet und in seinen Fotocollagen neu zusammenfügt. Kühl und rätselhaft ragen sie aus dem Schwarz des Umschlages.

Jedes der fast 300 Cover hat seine eigene Geschichte - wie die von der hübschen Verlagsmitarbeiterin, die sich auch mal auf einem der Umschläge verewigt sehen wollte und dann auf einem James-Baldwin-Titel ("Rückkehr aus der Wüste") landet, gemeinsam mit einem ihr unbekannten Farbigen, den sie im Auftrag Rehers von der Straße holt. Der posiert mit ihr gemeinsam in Rehers zerrissenen Pullover für das Foto. Daraus ergibt sich später fast ein Eklat mit politischen Folgen für Reher, wusste doch niemand, wer der Mann wirklich war, der später im Verlag anrief mit der kryptischen Botschaft: "Der Pullover liegt in der Friedrichstraße." Am Ende geht alles gut.

Lothar Reher ist Praktiker, Künstler, ein Augenmensch, der seine Bilder, die er im Kopf hat, verwirklicht. Als künstlerischer Leiter begutachtet er im Verlag die Arbeiten von Grafikern, die Kunst studiert haben. Er selbst ist eher Autodidakt. Eine typische Nachkriegskarriere: Das Gymnasium kann er nicht abschließen, nachdem Mutter und Vater früh sterben und er selber sehen muss, wie er sich durchschlägt. Er absolviert eine Ausbildung zum Schriftsetzer. Fünf Jahre arbeitet er in einer Druckerei, sie wird eine Art Zuhause. Er interessiert sich für die Gestaltung von Prospekten, Plakaten und Katalogen - und er geht mit offenen Augen durch Berlin, entdeckt die Arbeiten eines gewissen Klaus Wittkugel, der renommierte Gebrauchsgrafiker begegnet ihm später als Professor wieder. Er bewundert Werner Klemke. Er bildet sich weiter, landet schließlich bei Volk & Welt.

Der Talentierte nutzt weiter seine Chancen, so kommt es im Verlag zu einer Begegnung mit John Heartfied. Der ist 1950 aus Amerika in die DDR gekommen und soll gerade zwei Mühsam-Bände für die Akademie der Künste im Verlag gestalten, Reher soll ihn unterstützen. Erst geraten die beiden in einen heftigen Disput, da Reher kein Blatt vor den Mund nimmt, ehe sie später Freunde werden.

Heartfield lenkt Rehers Aufmerksamkeit auf Dada und die Fotografie. Das Fotografieren bringt sich Reher selbst bei. Ebenso die Technik des Marmorierens. Und wieder sucht er sich einen Lehrer, Gerhard Hesse, der in Leipzig eine Werkstatt für Papierveredlung betreibt und mit dem er sich über seine nächtlichen Experimente austauschen kann. Im Marmorieren bringt er es so zur Meisterschaft.

Ende der Verlagskarriere nach Biermann-Protest 

Doch Reher engagiert sich nicht nur als Grafiker. Er gehört auch zu den Erstunterzeichnern der Protestresolution gegen die Ausbürgerung seines Freundes Biermann 1976. Zuerst wird er aus der Verlagsleitung aussortiert, darf zwar weiter bei Volk & Welt arbeiten, fühlt sich aber gegängelt. 1979 kündigt er und beginnt, freiberuflich zu arbeiten. Ungeachtet dessen gestaltet er seine schwarze und weiße Reihe trotzdem weiter.


"Wat ich grade mache? Wat ich grade mache, ist, womit ich 50 Jahre geliebäugelt habe. Ich war wirklich ein sehr fleißiger Mensch, ich war künstlerischer Leiter, hatte eine Abteilung, ..., ich hatte Familie ... Sehnsuchtsvoll habe ich dann immer mal geguckt nach Leuten, die spaziern gegangen sind, und sich im Park geknutscht haben ... und ich musste arbeiten. Jetzt mach ich dat, was ich schon immer wollte, ich spiel jetzt Oblomow."

Nach dem Mauerfall 

Mit dem Fall der Mauer ändert sich alles, vor allem auch die Technik. Lothar Reher entdeckt den Computer. 600 Schriften kann er nun verwenden, ganz neu mit Fotografie und Typografie experimentieren. 2011 gestaltet er einen opulenten Band über den Mecklenburger Maler Werner Schinko. Dazu muss er sich neue Software aneignen. Er wird des Lernens nicht müde, auch nicht mit 79 Jahren.

Verlag Volk und Welt – Ex Libris

  

The visual unity of the series is not achieved through applying fixed guidelines. Every book receives its own typeface, the sizes are not consistent, and it seems as if a grid is not applied. In this sense every book reveices its individual cover design. The strong colours of the jackets and the spines are what makes the books unmistakably a series.

Design/ Gestaltung: Lothar Reher, Sieghard Hawemann.

Buchmesse Leipzig 2013

Illustrator Collective augenfalter (Leipzig) were so kind to offer me and a friend a free ticket for the fair (14—17.03.). To big to see all the different halls. Publishing houses over publishing houses. Different universities and graphic design courses were also present. As well as antiquarian booksellers. I discovered Verlag Volk und Welt and their series Ex Libris. It was one of the publishing houses of the GDR (see post above).

Deutsche National Bibliothek Leipzig & Buch und Schriftmuseum

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Reading Room of the German Book and Letter Museum at the German National Library Leipzig

The GNL (DNB) also hosts an extensive exhibition of items reflecting the history of media from cuneiform writing until the binary code. The items on display and the curation are invaluable. Luther's provocative pamphlets are presented alongside Maerz magazine, egyptian hieroglyphs, the Volksstürmer etc etc

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(own photos soon to follow)

Jan Tschichold in Leipzig

Great essays.

»Ich persönlich bin der einzige TYPOGRAPHISCHE KONSTRUKTIVISTISCHE in Leipzig.«
Tschichold, 1902 in Leipzig geboren, studiert an der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst bei Walter Tiemann und Hermann Delitzsch und erlebt in der Stadt den Beginn der typografischen Moderne, zu deren entscheidenden Wegbegleitern er mit seiner 1928 erschienen ›Neuen Typografie‹ werden wird.


#13 on : ><

Saul Steinberg: The line

"In 1954, Saul Steinberg, who created nearly ninety covers and twelve hundred drawings for The New Yorker over sixty years, made a drawing for the Tenth Triennial of Milan, a design and architecture fair. The drawing was called "The Line," and that's what it was: a single line spanning ten metres and twenty-nine panels that unfolded like an accordion. From this line, Steinberg gave rise to multitudes: laundry hanging out to dry and cities reflected in a river, women playing guitars, swinging chandeliers, and, of course, his famous cat. In Milan, the drawing was enlarged and incised into the wall of a trefoil labyrinth." (><)

Franz Erhard Walther

Eames House

Charles and Ray Eames

Paul MacCready

Fischli and Weiss: the art of humour (The Guardian)

" In The Sausage Photographs, the artists wilfully ignored the exhortation made by parents to their children: "Don't play with your food". In one of the 10 pictures, called At the Carpet Shop, a family of gherkins inspects piles of carpets and rugs made out of cooked meat, helped by a tip of white radish that can only be the sales assistant. One of the gherkins seems to be bending over to inspect one particular slice of processed meat while a smaller gherkin, presumably a child, stands by, apparently bored. A single round slice of mortadella, broad and fat-flecked, sits richly in the centre of the shop; dog-biscuit cushions are scattered throughout."

"In his important, yet seldom funny, essay "Laughter" (1900), the French philosopher Henri Bergson remarked: "We laugh every time a person gives us the impression of being a thing," and the same might also be said of its converse. In The Way Things Go there are moments when, instead of acting automatically and with immediacy, the objects seem to hesitate, as if reflecting on what it is they are about to do: the tyre resting among the burning newspapers before moving on; the can being filled with water before sliding down the orange slope; the lazy unfolding of the inflatable bed, like an arm stretching during a yawn."

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Publishing as Part Time Practice and: It's a book it's a stage it's a public place (Leipzig)

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William Eugene Smith

Spanish Wake, 1951

Jean Baudrillard: Impossible Exchange

" The uncertainty of the world lies in the fact that it has no equivalent anywhere; it cannot be exchanged for anything. The uncertainty of thought lies in the fact that it cannot be exchanged either for truth or for reality. Is it thought that tips the world over into uncertainties, or the other way round? This in itself is part of the uncertainty. " etc.

pub. by verso, 2001.

Bruno Munari: Seeking comfort in an uncomfortable chair

Oxana Timofeeva: History of Animals

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Publish and Be Damned

Image Text Tima at ICA

Jürgen Teller: Woo! (At ICA)

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At Barbican

Tina Bara: Wespenakte

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Erich Salome

Schwitters: Merzbau

Schwitters: Hand Held Sculptures

Franziska Holstein

GfZK: Zurück nach Morgen

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Peter Weibel

" Zwischen drei Tonbandgeräten ist eine riesige Tonbandschleife gespannt. Auf dem Loop wandert das gesprochene Wort „Ich“ von einem Magnetofon zum nächsten. Ist das Wort bei einem Magnetofon und einer Person angekommen, erklingt dort das „Ich“. Alle abgebildeten Personen beanspruchen das gleiche „Ich“, ihr „Ich“. (Endlosschleife). "
(Aus: Romana Schuler (Hg.), Peter Weibel. Bildwelten 1982–1996, S. 69.)

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Max Beckmann

Frank Lloyd Wright: Broadacre City

" It was not, however, until the early 1930s that he began to think seriously about how an entire community might be laid out in a less rigidly urban and more expansively suburban fashion. The result he called Broadacre City. A model was made at Taliesin in 1933 to demonstrate how Wright’s concept of a decentralized, low-density, self-sufficient community, based on humanistic and organic values, might work in practice. But there was little support for Wright’s vision, founded as it was upon a plethora of liberal concepts that proved unacceptable to politicians and uneconomic to developers. As a result, Broadacre City was largely ignored as impractical and utopian. "

Paul E. Sprague
From Grove Art Online

© 2009 Oxford University Press (><)

Frank Lloyd Wright

(guggenheim and fallingwater)

"Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was best exemplified by his design for Fallingwater (1935)" (Wikipedia)

cour vit! (something like a cv); Grenzwerte (1961) by Ramsbott and Kramer

" Dokumentation zur Ausstellung "Automobile Skulpturen. Mechanisches Theater.
"Experimentelle Filme" vom 1. bis 31 Juli 1961 in Köln.
Die Texte sind nach der Entstehungszeit ausser Kürzungen unverändert in die
biographischen Notizen eingeordnet. Da eine genaue Unterscheidung nicht möglich ist,
wurde nicht angegeben welcher Text im einzelnen von Kramer oder Ramsbott
stammt. " (><)

Louis Sullivan

Wikipedia That Form Ever Follows Function and Sullivan

" Sullivan developed the shape of the tall steel skyscraper in late 19th Century Chicago at the very moment when technology, taste and economic forces converged violently and made it necessary to drop the established styles of the past. If the shape of the building was not going to be chosen out of the old pattern book something had to determine form, and according to Sullivan it was going to be the purpose of the building. It was "form follows function", as opposed to "form follows precedent". " (><)

Stenotype Reader

"A stenotype, stenotype machine or shorthand machine is a specialized chorded keyboard or typewriter used by stenographers for shorthand use. […] Some stenographers can reach 300 words per minute. […] The stenotype keyboard has many fewer keys than a conventional alphanumeric keyboard. Multiple keys are pressed simultaneously (known as "chording" or "stroking") to spell out whole syllables, words, and phrases with a single hand motion. " (Wikipedia >< )

" Stenotype keys normally are black with no markings. The keyboard layout of the American stenotype machine is shown at the right.
In "home position," the fingers of the left hand rest along the gap between the two main rows of keys to the left of the asterisk (little finger on the "S" to forefinger on the "H" and "R"). These fingers are used to generate initial consonants. The fingers of the right hand lie in the corresponding position to the right of the asterisk (forefinger on "FR" to little finger on "TS"), and are used for final consonants. The thumbs produce the vowels.
The system is roughly phonetic; for example the word "cat" would be written by a single stroke expressing the initial K, the vowel A, and the final T. " (Wikipedia >< )