Writer Charline Stoelzaed

With the collection In Sickness and in Health, a twenty-nine year project comes to an end for photographer Colin Gray. This is the final installment of a portrayal of Gray’s own parents, part of a piece of work that began in the eighties. The images that are often choreographed and humorous. Gray tracks the deterioration of his mother, Rene, in an attempt to find personal relief by immortalizing her agonising death. Bedridden following a stroke, the final chapter of the series The Parents depict Rene’s final days, no longer a caring wife and mother, but a ward of her caregiver husband, Ron. Assembled like a play, with blank pages indicating the succeeding phases of Rene’s illness, Gray’s images move back and forth between clinical registrations and impressionistic emblems with unseen colours and shapes. The voyeurism reflected in several scenes is strengthened by sub-temperature lighting, and brought back into balance by the subtle but unmistakable story of a life that is full of stories, and that shimmer through the images. In Sickness and in Health demonstrates Gray’s strong sensitivity to composition that is as just as often architectural as organic, while always making perfect sense. This concluding chapter puts the ugliness of the dependent and the concept of decay against the unconditional nurturing in the face of which the external disappears.

Colin Gray: In Sickness and In Health

Published by Steidl

Available from Amazon here

Photography Melika Ngombe

The fashion world is all drama – you need look no further than the catty goings-on of industry grandees  Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent. In her gripping book “The Beautiful Fall” Alicia Drake describes the bitter rivalry between the two iconic designers, while dishing up a sneaky behind-the-scenes look at Paris fashion in the 70s. Drake, a seasoned fashion journalist, dives into the biographies of the two men and paints a vivid double portrait of their unwittingly intertwined lives. Intrigue, ambition and glamour in an enthralling mix, a fascinating read for both fashion insiders and outsiders.

Alicia Drake: The Beautiful Fall

Available from Amazon here

Subway by Bruce Davidson published by Steidl / www.steidlville.com

With its more than 1,000 kms of tracks, 460 stations and several millions of rides delivered each day of the year, New York’s subway system is a world of its own, tirelessly running through its five boroughs like ever-pulsating veins, the nervous system to the city that never sleeps. American photographer and Magnum member Bruce Davidson infamously captured this urban microcosm on film back in 1986, focusing his lens on the commuters, musicians, train conductors, thugs, vagabonds, businessmen and buskers that made up the underground’s make-up at the time. And, given the particularly dangerous nature of the subway back in the 1980s, this was no small feat. Davidson: “As I went down the subway stairs, through the turnstile, and onto the darkened station platform, a sinking sense of fear gripped me. I grew alert, and looked around to see who might be standing by, waiting to attack. The subway was dangerous at any time of the day or night, and everyone who rode it knew this and was on guard at all times; a day didn’t go by without the newspapers reporting yet another hideous subway crime. Passengers on the platform looked at me, with my expensive camera around my neck, in a way that made me feel like a tourist-or a deranged person.” It is precisely this prevailing sense of tension that make Davidson’s visual journey so mesmerising, each of his subjects, for example, portrayed with haunting authenticity, staring zomby-eyed into Davidson’s direction. More than 25 years on, and although the book has been given a Steidl update (it now comes with additional unpublished photographs), Davidson’s work has aged magnificently, remaining a vivid and powerful reflection of the city’s past.

Bruce Davidson: Subway

Published by Steidl

Available from Amazon here

All photography Pauline Miko

Knitted cardigan from Henrik Vibskov and scarf by SPRB

As its name suggest, Danish designer Henrik Vibskov‘s Nordic Kimono – a heavy-knit oversized cardigan with tie belt – astutely blends Japanese cuts with Nordic patterns, bringing the best of both worlds together. A unique piece that scores house points both for its originality but also for the quality of its craftsmanship, the cardigan is made out of Merino wool and is cut to perfection (fitted but with enough room for manoeuvre should the Christmas dinner get out of hand). Topped by this exquisite hand-knitted scarf-come-hoodie made by Dutch imprint SPRB, and we’ve concocted the perfect solution for winter snuggles.

Thursday 23rd December’s proposal: Maison Fabre gloves and Il Bussetto coin purse

Taking colour-coded style to new heights, we’ve selected two items today guaranteed to bring smiles around the Christmas tree. First up, a family of leather-clad colourtastic gloves for women from venerable French glove-makerMaison Fabre. With a palette that tilts towards the bold and beautiful and a cut that aims for the timeless, the decade-old family business once again confirms its reputation for excellency. Next up is Italian imprint Il Bussetto‘s elegant coin purses, handcrafted using an ancient Italian manufacturing technique. Available in three different sizes and with a range of different colours to choose from, they’ll sit perfectly with the gloves.

Wednesday 21st December’s proposal: Good One sweater and Calourette necklace

As stylish as it is eco-conscious, this effortless, slightly-on-the-quirky-side sweater from London-based sustainable fashion imprint Good One stands out through its colour-patterned design, the label’s trademark look. Combining modern and contemporary features with an innovative production method (known as ‘up-cycling’, a trend that blends sustainable fabrics with reclaimed textiles), this unstructured pullover will appeal to the fashion-fiends keen to add a little lightheartedness to their wardrobes. Add to that the restrained sparkle of this necklace (made of real walnut and real silver) from Calourette – a French jewellery label with a knack for playful and original creations – and you have yourself another sure-fire duo of Christmas pleasers.

Tuesday 20th December’s proposal: Faguo & Johnstons of Elgin high tops and Alexander Wang hoodie

We’re suckers for collaborations here at Word HQ, especially when they bring seemingly opposing forces together. In steps French upstart sneaker label Faguo (The brand that pioneered the ‘buy-plant-support’ business model) and Johnstons of Elgin, a Scottish imprint that is over 200 years old (its tweed and cashmere are favourites of the British Royal Family). The unlikely pair have teamed up  on this Scottish-themed high top that combines Faguo’s modern and elegant design with Johnstons’ exceptional fabrics (the shoe is made of authentic Scottish tweed), bringing a little bit of Highland authenticity to the street. And, since we’re on the topic of street-savyness, we’ve picked out this Alexander Wang wool and cashmere hoodie as the best one to rock with the high tops – hands down.

Monday 19th December’s proposal: Asus N55S and Coffee Spot

In barista world, coffee enjoys the same kind of precision rating as wine. Indeed, the (somewhat belated) emergence of coffee joints in our cities has been accompanied by issues of bean quality, provenance and processing. What’s more, the image of the barista has evolved from one of spotty teenagers trying to make some pocket money to well-travelled, knowledgable coffee captains whose passion for the bean is second to none. Well, they now have a trusted little companion in the shape of this handy little coffee spot book. Designed by DeInvasie.be founder Yves Drieghe and printed in Belgium on an original Heidelberg press, think of the book as your very own little ratings agency on paper, a 100-page strong archive of all your coffee experiences. And, just in case the paper runs out or your pencil gives in, we suggest you take this sleek and sexy new notebook from Asus along. Called the N-Series, its built-in HD camera and Bang & Olufsen powered sound system (complete with subwoofer) makes it ripe for coffee lounge media consumption.

Friday 16th December’s proposal: Contacts DVD and 032c

Contacts is a comprehensive and exhaustive three-DVD boxset collection of movies (English, French and German audio) which profiles the world’s greatest photographers in a fresh and unashamedly personal way. Everyone from Sarah Moon, Jeff Wall or even Henri Cartier-Bresson takes to the camera, revealing secrets behind their iconic images and providing insights into their singular artistic approaches. A captivating behind-the-scenes look, the documentaries often make for exhilarating accounts and manage to picture these legendary photographers in their natural habitat: in the darkroom, on location or in the studio. And, to complete your Sunday afternoon culture fix, a yearly subscription to culture bible 032c (the self-proclaimed Manual for Freedom, Research and Creativity) will ensure you remain on top of your game as far as everything fashion, art and culture is concerned.

Thursday 15th December’s proposal: Santal Massoia perfume by Hermès and l’Eau de Villée limited edition bottle by Manor Grunwald

Since 2004 Jean-Claude Ellena, the mastermind behind all Hermès perfumes, creates elegant scents for the Hermessence line aimed at men as well as women. Santal Massoia is his tenth and most recent composition for the unisex collection, combining a rather unusual mix of two milky woods: the more common sandalwood and the rare massoia, a protected tree species found in New Guinea and Indonesia. Exotic yet discreet, the scent hits all the right notes this winter and is guaranteed to warrant an approving nod from the connoisseurs. And, keeping within today’s fire power tone, we’ve dug out a Manor Grunwald-designed limited edition Eau de Villée bottle that will without a doubt keep spirits high around the Christmas tree.

Wednesday 14th December’s proposal: Swatch Touch and Maison Martin Margiela gloves

Riding the current wave of everything ‘touch’, the Swiss watchmaker-to-the-masses reveals its Swatch Touch, a watch that, you’ve guessed it, comes with a touch screen. Trading in the customary twists and turns for swipes and taps, the Blade Runner-worthy timepiece comes in a timeless black (pictured), although the less serious souls will certainly go for Swatch‘s signature pallet of uplifting colours – everything form pink to turquoise. And, to guarantee you keep both your hands and your new watch nice and warm, these Maison Martin Margiela gloves will undoubtedly do the trick whilst staying true to your ‘presentation is half the battle won’ mantra.

Tuesday 13th December’s proposal: Sony Alpha 77 (with 18-55mm lens) and Louis Vuitton City Guides 2012

With its elegant disposition, this freshly-updated and tightly-packed collection of travel tomes consists of nine separate city guides that take in everything from a town’s museums and tearooms to it’s best shopping addresses and drinking dens. With the addition of a cutesy section entitled ‘Good Things’, the Louis Vuitton City Guides’ focus is clearly on the good life, dishing out innumerable insider tips as to what a city has to offer – from the 22 year old wine cellar in Zagreb to the 150 year old pastry shop in Warsaw. Choosing to give a shine to Europe’s lesser known capitals and satellite cities (Vienna and Salzburg; Naples and Bari; Odessa and St Petersburg), it is the depth of local insights and the simple way in which the intelligence is presented that really makes these city guides the perfect companion for your 2012 city-hopping plans. And, whilst you’re at it, take Sony‘s excellent Alpha 77 D-SLR with 18-55mm lens along in your weekend holdall to guarantee the tip’s many memories are captured to perfection, be it in photo or video mode.

Monday 12th December’s proposal: Marshall Headphones ’The Major’ and Slove ‘Le Danse’

With its synth-driven melodies, catchy guitar riffs and addictive bass lines, Slove’s debut LP ‘Le Danse’ is undoubtedly one of our favourite albums of the year, clocking up impressive amounts of airplay on Word radio. In fact, the band’s sexy-cool blend of uptempo and uplifting dance-pop so captured our hearts and minds that we invited the Parisian duo for a live showcase at our blue album release party (Watch the video here). Easily our number one music pick if we were to draw up our own wish list this Christmas. (And we’d probably throw in these sparkling white headphones by Marshall – ideal for bass-heavy listening.)

Writer Melisande McBurnie, Photographer Stine Sampers

Camden by Jean-Christian Bourcart – Images en Manœuvres Editions

Bourcart’s most recent publication – what could almost be described as a photo journal – sees him set foot into one of Americas most malignant areas. It portrays the subject in complete disarray, caught off guard. It’s as if the state had just come and repossessed the bed, the fridge, even the roof, just as he was about to click the shutter. Q-tips litter the floor, along with pen caps and exposed cables. From bitter cold streets to sticky tarmac and, every so often, a gesture, a kiss, an embrace. This is the stuff of “shit”… All the things you weren’t supposed to see. And to think he simply googled “most+dangerous+city+america”, result “Camden.”

Available from Amazon

Gone? by Robert Adams – Steidl

In his latest book Gone?, Robert Adams take us on a “Hansel and Gretel” journey into the landscape of a recollection based in Colorado. Shot in black and white, a series of photos taken in the 1980s document the slow evolution of a once wild region. Revisiting a place, where as a young boy Adams walked and the impact it now plays on reshaping his memory, Gone? is the disappearance of personal landmarks, of how one got from A to B and all the little pit stops in-between. There is something engaging upon seeing Adams’ vast lands devoid of colour that leaves us with an urge to fill it in, a true scrapbook of sorts. One can’t help but want to remember with him of how it used to be.

Available from Amazon

Black and White by Ellsworth Kelly – Hatje Cantz
Investigating the interplay of positive and negative, form versus colour and the space that surrounds us, Ellsworth Kelly brings us back to basics. With over six decades of study and observation into his everyday surroundings, having first gained worldwide acclaim for his paintings and drawings, Kelly now presents us with Black and White. Asking the viewers’ approach to be that of a child, who learns from disassembling and reassembling, the result is engaging and playful – looking somewhat simple at first sight though closer inspection reveals there’s an equation behind each move, a “working out” so to speak, a consideration of weight, balance and its tipping point. Indeed we are left with a querying feeling of “What came first?”

Available from Amazon

Red Roses Yellow Rain by Marrigje de Maar – Hatje Cantz
In Red Roses Yellow Rain, Marrigje captures the more humble abodes and their interiors over a period of several visits to the “Motherland”, a country rapidly hurtling into modernisation. Here she allows us to spy into a culture still steaming with history and traditions. A domestic journey into communist China and what lies behind the wall. It’s almost like walking onto the set of a Zhang Yimou film. The classic coral-red and jade-green with floral flasks and pink plastic bags taking on a form of true “minimal-decor” all captured with that similar somber light. So inviting are these images, one can almost smell the tea brewing.

Available from Amazon

Far Too Close by Martina Hoogland Ivanow – Steidlmack
Far Too Close entangles the boundaries between familiar and foreign. Drawing the viewer into something of a secret and what lurks in its shadows, Ivanow depicts the features of an almost faceless person, making it near impossible to make out where one subject ends and the other begins. Having traveled extensively over a seven year period to remote places such as Siberia, Sakhalin Island and Tierra del Fuego, on the southern tip of Argentina, the photographer sets out to explore and capture a personal history of “home”. The shape of sheets are here and the place on a pillow where a head had rested.

Available from Amazon

(First published in the white album)

Photographer Yana Foqué

Places, strange and quiet (2011) by Wim Wenders – Hatje Cantz

At times intriguing, at others downright hilarious, Wim Wenders’ photography captures the everyday absurdities he encounters on his many travels – everything from oversized cowboys sporting Wrangler denim skirts to windowless backyard sheds and deserted former submarine assembly plants. With characteristic wit, the celebrated filmmaker creates visual statements on non-descript places which draw meaning not from their subject matter but, rather, from Wenders’ watchful gaze, and the notes accompanying each photograph. Opposite a photograph depicting a Bavarian policeman looking onto Italian activists running amok through a field for example, the sentence reads: “The G8 in Germany…Protesters ran through the fields, Italian activists carrying a sign PACE. A Bavarian policeman turned to his colleague: “Look, these idiots don’t even know how to spell PEACE.””  It’s simple, self-explanatory and works wonders. Pure Wenders.

Available from Amazon

Behind the zines: Self-publishing culture (2011) – Gestalten

However limited their print run, the impact self-published fanzines have had on the growth of certain counter-cultures and musical movements make them the undeniable and ultimate voice of independent thinking. The precursor to blogs, what really distinguished these homemade, low budget boutique publications was their approach to art direction, graphic design and production. Antiquated print presses were preserved merely to achieve a particular finish, paper stocks mixed-and-matched to rainbow effect, 3D typefaces created out of pure ‘zine zeal and binding techniques so advanced even the Japanese couldn’t catch up. An exhaustive, well put together and, above all, accurate survey of the culture in itself, Behind the zines manages to succinctly capture the movement’s essence without reading like a how to guide.

Available from Amazon

In a lonely place (2011) by Gregory Crewdson – Hatje Cantz

Best known for his highly staged, film-like photography, Crewdson also has a more intimate and intuitive side to his work, one which somehow seems more improvised and less restrained. Although the celebrated photographer shot to prominence with his sometimes glacial series Beneath the Roses (2003-2008), Crewdson manages to counter his tendency towards the pre-determined with rather more personal series such as Sanctuary (2009), a black and white documentary which captures Fellini’s famed Cinecitta studios in Rome, or Fireflies (1996), which reflects the artist’s interest in nature. In each of the series though, Crewdson’s ability to contrast an overriding sense of sadness with an unquestionable and somewhat naïve beauty remains the unsettling element that makes of his visual aesthetic one of the most innovative in contemporary photography today.

Available from Amazon

From Polaroid to Impossible (2011) – Hatje Cantz

Along with the demise of the Polaroid Corporation came the realisation that its legendary Polaroid Collection housed in New York and Europe would need to be auctioned off to pay off angry creditors and administrators. Aghast, a movement made of artists, museums and photography lovers and led by the Polaroid-perfected artist Chuck Close came to life, mobilising itself to ensure preservation of the 16,000-strong collection which includes instant photography by the likes of Ansel Adams, Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol and Helmut Newton. The group succeeded in its quest to avoid a sale, and this book is the result of their perseverance.

Available from Amazon

Global Denim (2011) by Daniel Miller and Sophie Woodward – Berg Publisher

The dominance denim enjoys over other textiles in the fashion industry is unparalleled. It’s a natural monopoly of the global uniform, one which has rarely been investigated. From the streets of Mumbai and the back alleys of Mexico City to the urban townships of middle America and the rural villages of central Africa, nothing says effortless cool the way a pair of jeans does – be they boot cuts, slim fits or baggies. But what, exactly, makes them so ubiquitous? What is their anthropological meaning when taken in their local contexts? At times a heavy read that can make you feel like you’re back at college, Global Denim uses the Great Depression, Bollywood screenings and Rio de Janeiro’s funk balls to reach a set of conclusions explaining the unquestionable rise of denim as the global garment of the world.

Available from Amazon

Jeff Wall, The Crooked Path (2011) – Bozar Books and Ludion

The accompanying book to the Canadian photographer’s monumental exhibition of the same name currently on show at Brussels’ Bozar, The Crooked Path represents Wall’s attempt to make sense of his body of work in a very public manner by contextualising it, confronting it even, to the works of his contemporaries and icons. Using as starting point a simple picture of a landscape, Wall proceeds to historically reference his work – large-scale photography framed in light boxes for the most part – opting for total transparency as far as inspiration goes: he makes no secret, for example, of having taken inspiration from Delacroix’s La Mort de Sardanapale for The Destroyed Room, his 1978 depiction of a ransacked room. And that is the beauty of Wall’s work: conscious of its debt to the past, but keen to translate it for the future.

Available from Amazon

(first published in the blue album)

Photographer Yassin Serghini

From left to right: Natural Habitats (Steidl), Dirty Blonde (Faber & Faber), Landscapes (Hatje Cantz), Straight in The Light (ARP2 Editions), The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Picador) and What Would John Do? (BIS Publishers)

Straight in the Light (2009-2010) by Michel Mazzoni – ARP2 editions

Straight in the Light, Brussels-based Michel Mazzoni’s second book, captures his American road trip, taking as starting point the faded and fazed-out. A photographer who sees landscapes as a meeting of spaces, his sparse, eerie and intentionally over-exposed images document the departed, disappeared and decayed. Looking through the book, one cannot help but feel a mix of contrasting emotions: beauty vs sorrow, escape vs reality, soft vs heavy-hitting. Using Californian, Arizonian and New Mexican natural light to fabulous effect, this is an intimate and insightful account of the maturity Mazzoni’s work has gained over the last few years.

Available from ArpEditions.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) by Tom Woolfe – Picador

The Merry Pranksters were a colourful group of post-beatniks lead by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey. Embarking on a summer-long road trip through America in a bus whose destination simply read “Further”, they went on to make history championing psychedelic drugs and band-of-the-moment Grateful Dead. Those epic days might have disappeared in a fog of hazy memories and acid flashbacks hadn’t journalist Tom Wolfe been on the bus, notebook in hand, religiously chronicling it all. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test narrates their story, describing its kooky protagonists, their wild adventures, even including tips to guarantee a fruitful, freak-out free LSD experience… The vivid descriptions and stream-of-consciousness styles collide, making this cult classic the closest you could possibly get to actually being there. That’s until its cinematographic adaptation, directed by Gus Van Sant, hits screens later this year.

Available from Amazon.

What Would John Do? Flour Power – Baking your Way to happiness (2010) by William Georgi – BIS Publishers

A hilarious pastiche of self-help manual meets cookbook, What Would John Do? reveals the mysteries of how a humble cookie contains all the ingredients for a happier life. The author recounts the teaches of John Altman – an unemployed Dude-like neo-hippie who gives away free cookies on San Francisco’s Baker Beach draped in nothing but an apron – developing his “spread the love” mantra in seven chapters meant to resemble the seven steps to bake the perfect cookie. John’s seemingly simplistic leitmotivs – referred to as “Johnisms” (“Go natural”, “whatever man”, or our personal favourite: “no one is bigger than the cookie”) – are pure pearls of wisdom and whether or not he actually exists, or if his recipe is that good, matters little. What Would John Do? is about the bigger picture. A wonderful lesson in how to step back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

Available from Amazon.

Landscapes (2011) by Gerhard Richter – Hatje Cantz

Landscapes have a longstanding presence throughout Gerhard Richter’s vast body of work. As a matter of fact, their simple beauty have fascinated the German painter for the past 35 years, taking more of his time than any other theme. Despite the breadth of these explorations, only two exhibitions have been devoted to this subject matter so far and critics rarely made time to explore the values and meanings of these paintings, dismissed as purely “aesthetic”. This is the first book to examine these gorgeous and dream- like romanticised visions. Featuring over 80 plates that combine his photorealistic paintings, signature blur as well as a few rough sketches reminiscent of his abstract works, Landscapes is a must-have for the true Richter fan.

Available from Amazon.

Natural Habitats (2010) by Massimo Vitali – Steidl

Page after page, Massimo Vitali’s bright and monumental prints of holiday resorts packed with herds of people are both soothing and mind-boggling. Capturing these popular spots in Turkey, Italy, Croatia or the French Riviera from dizzying heights affording the best views, the humans depicted are reduced to tiny flesh- coloured pinheads swarming in a strange mass that seems to socially gravitate around each other. Some of Vitali’s tribes of beachgoers and bathers can be seen under temporary shelters (umbrellas, tents, canopies), whilst others simply attempt to make peace with their surroundings. In both cases, the depicted packs breathe tranquillity and peace, whilst evolving in these heavenly “natural habitats.”

Available from Steidl.

Dirty Blonde – The Diaries of Courtney Love (2007) – Faber & Faber

Few women in show business history have been as controversial as Courtney Love. Often bashed by tabloids and peers, Kurt Cobain’s widow and de facto queen of grunge never went down without a fight and has come to be known for her loud, spontaneous and unabashedly wild nature. Dirty Blonde features an intimate collection of notes, photographs and documents belonging to the peroxided anti-hero, turning out to be her most intimate release to date. Poignant excerpts of her childhood diaries, song lyrics written in juvenile hall, report cards from school, old flyers, promo pictures, intimate photographs of Kurt and their baby daughter make up this fascinating scrapbook containing everything you’d ever need to know about the MTV Generation’s most iconic and scandalous blonde.

Available from Amazon.

Photographer 354 Photographers

From left, clockwise: Urban Interventions (Gestalten), Gang Leader for a Day (Allen Lane), Bankrupt (Twin Palms Publishers), Anish Kapoor (Phaidon) and The Red Balloon (Doubleday)

Bankrupt (2004) by Phillip Toledano – Twin Palms Publishers

Bankrupt presents no foreword nor summary, its subject matter being quite self-explanatory. A handful of anonymous termination emails are featured as the only textual elements, eluding to the sense of incomprehension or disbelief their recipients might have felt upon first read. New York-based photographer Phillip Toledano started taking pictures of recently abandoned offices in 2001, documenting what he referred to as “economic archaeology”. The oversized dimensions of the book and Toledano’s large-scale prints emphasise the desolate character of these vacant offices. Page after page, we are faced with empty drawers, dying plants, the mess and chaos of desks that have been hastily abandoned, piled boxes, coatless hangers, lifeless rooms, ending with its most moving and ironic image: a cleared desk above which a blue sticker on the wall reads “We’re all in this together”.

Available from Amazon.

Anish Kapoor (2009) by David Anfam – Phaidon

From its beautiful and rich cover reminiscent of the textures of his wax works to the colour pictures that capture the intensity of pigment sculptures, this book – prefaced by art historian David Anfam – is a useful resource for understanding Anish Kapoor’s highly rated oeuvre. Famed for his larger-than-life pieces that involve trompe l’oeil and site-specific installations, the British sculptor has rapidly become one of the most respected artists of his generation. With hundreds of images ranging from reproductions of his work, photographs of Kapoor in his workshop, as well as sketches from his most ambitious projects, this weighty volume certainly lives up to its promise of being the most comprehensive monograph ever published on the artist.

Available from Amazon.

Gang Leader for a day (2008) by Sudhir Venkatesh – Allen Lane

When American sociology student Sudhir Venkatesh infiltrated a gang to gain an in depth understanding of urban poverty in early 90s Chicago, he certainly had no clue of how far it would take him and how drawn he would become to the subjects of his interests. Spending nearly a decade in the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago, one of the worst ghettos in America, he quickly found himself in the midst of a crack dealing crime ring. Recounting his trials and tribulations with an unexpected candour, this book tells the tale of a curious young man that ended up getting far more than he had bargained for.

Available from Amazon.

The red balloon (1956) by Albert Lamorisse – Doubleday

Based on the French movie of the same name, The Red Balloon tells the story of little Pascal, a lonely only child whose vivid imagination leads him to befriend a large helium filled red balloon which he manages to tame and turns into an obedient pet. The pair embarks on a series of adventures through the streets of Paris, until a gang of jealous schoolmates “burst his bubble” by throwing rocks in its direction. The minimal amount of colour stands out amongst the beautiful black and white photographs taken during the filming of this 1956 children’s classic. As heart-warming as it is poignant, this naive tale will bring out your inner child, a few smiles and possibly even tears.

Available from Amazon.

Urban interventions: personal projects in public places (2010) by Robert Klanten – Gestalten

Part street art, part agitprop, urban interventions have become a permanent feature of cities’ landscapes in recent years, gaining both in notoriety and interest. Whether artists, that chose to make use of public spaces for creative expressions, or activists, who go to the street to spread political messages, both use the city as their personal drawing board. The results are often amusing, and whether political or simply aesthetic, always thought provoking. This book showcases the projects of over 70 individuals and collectives, who operate throughout Europe and America, taking art out of white cubes and into the agora.

Available from Amazon.

Photography Yassin Serghini

From left to right: Black material: volume 01 (00), Drawings (kunsthaus-Bregenz), The valley of the shadow (Gestalten), Catalogue déraisonné (Steidl), Contraband (Steidl)

Drawings – Work comes out of work (2008) by Richard Serra – Kunsthaus-Bregenz

Known for his steel sculptures, Richard Serra’s 2007 retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art cemented his contribution to the world of contemporary art. His career has spanned 40 years and lesser known but just as formidable is his large body of drawings. The exhibition ‘Drawings – Work Comes Out of Work’ displays six series of his dramatic use of black paintstick, a wax-like grease crayon, in all his work. Dense layers of pigmented waxy material cling to the surface, absorbing light and weighing the work down with density and physicality not often seen in pieces of this nature. Large format illustrations and photographic insights into the artist working in his studio add to the penetrating portrait art historian James Lawrence included in this substantive book, celebrating an understated facet of this conceptual artist.

Available from Amazon

Black material: volume 01 (2010) by Robert Knoke – 00

Robert Knoke’s Black material: volume 01 acts more like a “who’s who” of this decade’s cool cats than your average monograph. Fortunate enough to have sat opposite those at the vanguard of contemporary creative practice, the German artist captured their essence with his monochrome and expressionist style, blending markers, grease pencils, ball pens, gloss paint and glitter. Along with reproductions of his large scale drawings, close-ups and views from installations, the book also offers an intimate peek at his atelier and candid shots of his subjects, that range from established icons (Patti Smith, Marc Jacobs, Jean-Baptiste Mondino), avant-garde designers (Rick Owens, Bernhard Wilhelm, Terence Koh), to hipster darlings (Leigh Lezark, The Kills) and underground heroes (Bruce LaBruce, Thomas Hirschhorn).

Available from 00

The valley of the shadow (2010) by Miron Zownir – Gestalten

We deliberately avoid numerous sights of our everyday life. A self-confessed ‘phenomenographer’, Miron Zownir has spent the past 20 years capturing those painful realities we try so hard to ignore or revealing the depths of lifestyles deemed so deviant we cannot fathom their existence. Haunted by childhood memories of post-war landscapes, crippled veterans and mutilated widows, Zownir journeyed across Berlin, Eastern Europe and New York, exposing the true face of society, be it hidden in the dens of counter-cultures or in the broad daylight of our streets. His coarse photographs, carrying an inevitably strong shock factor, could easily be dismissed as sensationalist and gratuitously provocative, if it weren’t for their brutal honesty and balanced subjectivity.

Available from Amazon

Catalogue déraisonné (2010) by Jean Pigozzi – Steidl

Jean Pigozzi, self-described international businessman, traveller and collector, takes his camera with him wherever he goes. And wherever he goes is usually somewhere glamorous and celebrity-infested. Everyone from Mick Jagger, Tim Burton and Jack Nicholson to Dash Snow, Gilbert & Georges and Roy Lichtenstein make appearances in this heady, good-looking and sometimes frankly hilarious insight into the underbellies of celebrity culture. Gigantic art dealer Larry Gagosian, for instance, is shown to be quite the joker, pulling faces whenever possible. Oh, and there’s also a photograph of Steve Jobs‘ (surprisingly hairy) feet sporting Birkenstocks.

Available from Amazon

Contraband (2010) by Taryn Simon – Steidl

Taryn Simon’s Contraband is a mesmerising visual account of four days spent photographing items intercepted at New York’s JFK airport. Boasting 1,075 photographs, everything from counterfeit American Express travellers cheques, overproof Jamaican rum, purses made from endangered species to pirated Disney DVDs, prohibited sausage and undeclared gold dust is minutely archived. With each and every item seized captured on a white background and playfully set directed, Simon’s approach somehow manages to demystify and categorise an otherwise bewildering array of contraband. Topping our list of intrigues was the unhealthy amounts of erectile dysfunction medication that seems to come through American borders.

Available from Amazon

Photography Yassin Serghini

From top to bottom: Black and white (Steidl), Verses and versions (Harcourt Inc), Yesterday’s sandwich (Phaidon), 7KM (Snoeck), Red star over Russia (Tate), Vania (Gestalten)

Verses and Versions; Three Centuries of Russian Poetry (2008) – Selected and translated by Vladimir Nabokov – Harcourt Inc

Think Nabokov and Lolita is bound to be the first thing you think of. Though he gained worldwide acclaim through his novels, the Russian writer was also a formidable literary critic, chess player and linguistic doyen. Collected for the first time in one volume are Nabokov’s translations of Russian poetry, set along their original Russian versions as well as capsule profiles of the poets, including the greats such as Pushkin, Lermontov and Fet. Not just a mere anthology, this is a master class in the hopes, risks and thrills of translating. Don’t expect perfect facsimiled versions but instead an appreciation of one of Russia’s greatest literary minds executing a passion with the discursive and eloquent style he is famed for.

Available from Amazon

7KM (2009) – Kirill Golochenko – Snoeck

Europe’s largest marketplace lies on 70 hectares of what used to be wheat fields and a waste processing plant, seven kilometres from Odessa. This photographic series captures the workings of this ‘Field of Wonders’ that dates back to the Second World War and which developed from the most famous flea market in the Soviet Union. Documenting the people, commodities and conditions of this rather surreal and remarkable place, Golochenko depicts its streets of containers organised by bright colours and market stalls filled with wedding dresses, inflatable’s and imitation tiger rugs, everything a person could ever possibly need, or not. A celebration of kitsch and post-soviet wonderland.

Available from Amazon

Yesterday’s Sandwich (2007) – Boris Mikhailov – Phaidon

Hailed by many as one of the most, if not the most, influential photographers from the former Soviet Union, Boris Mikhailov’s work has left an indelible imprint on contemporary photography. Famous for his disturbingly honest Case History series, capturing the silent despair and social disintegration following the collapse of the Soviet Union in a full frontal manner, his early work deserves equal mention. The intriguing Yesterday’s Sandwich (1966) series resulted from a simple accident, when Mikhailov inadvertently super-imposed two slides and was fascinated by the outcome. He proceeded to purposely juxtapose nature close-ups, interiors and nudity (a major taboo in the Soviet era), with the intention of celebrating beauty or its absence. The results of his experimentations are suggestive, poetic, ridden with meaning – both abstract and figurative – but mostly, of a breathtaking beauty.

Available from Amazon

Black and White; A Suprematist Composition of 1915 by Kazimir Malevich (2009) – Andrei Nakov – Steidl

The groundbreaking painting ‘Black and White; Suprematist Composition‘(1915) by Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) is the focus of this little wonder. Recent advances in conservation work mean that scholars are now able to understand this single piece in more detail. Articulated in the Suprematist ‘grammar’ of pure geometrical forms, the painting, along with others by Malevich like ‘White on White’ and ‘Black Square’, envisioned a new art, breaking with traditional form and realism. The book gives readers a peek into Malevich’s vision and conceptualism, placing it in the context of the fermenting political landscape and the wider international art scene of the time. A great synopsis of this abstract masterpiece of the Russian avant-garde, one which would go on to be an inspiration to so many movements in years to come, paving the way for Italian futurists and American minimalists in the 1950s.

Available from Amazon

Red star over Russia (2009) – David King – Tate

A mammoth of a book filled to the brim with posters, graphics and photographs detailing the course of events following the revolution from 1917 until the death of Stalin in 1953. This volatile period saw upheaval, civil unrest, war and the decimation of famine. The 1930s brought Stalin’s Great terror followed by the violent onslaught of the Nazi military machine. Scaling whimsical portraits of ordinary life and famous intellectuals to propaganda-pushing Stalin’s five-year plan, this is a dynamic look at the Soviet Union in its most changeable period. For a book with so many remarkable images, it is crammed full of historical insight. Definitely not just your average picture book.

Available from Amazon

Vania (2010) – Vania Zouravliov – Gestalten

Child prodigies never fail to spark interest, but in Vania Zouravliov’s case, it feels as though the body of work has managed to surpass the myth. The son of a painter and an art teacher, Vania dabbled around from an early age and counted international exhibitions and several television appearances by the time he turned thirteen. His remarkably detailed drawings are surreal and haunting portrayals of idealistic and ethereal beauty tinged with darkness. Morbid overtones of death, decay and decadence seep and overwhelm the dreamlike states, which resonate through much of his work. With influences ranging from his native Russian folklore and art to Japanese illustration and pop art, Zouravliov delivers an intriguing body of work in this monograph. Layered with dark motifs that are reminiscent of silent movies, “Vania” is thrilling, alluring and definitely disturbing.

Available from Gestalten Online Store

© Yassin Serghini

Slaughter on a snowy morn by Colin Evans, Icon Books (2010)

Charlie Stielow is one unlucky man. The Berlin-born farmhand and his young family, following years of hardship (no job, no prospect, no money), finally catch a break when landowner Charles Phelps employs Stielow for one year on particularly generous terms. A couple of days after moving into the property’s tenants’ house, Phelps is brutally murdered, setting off a chain of events which would forever revolutionise the proceedings within a courtroom. Evans’ novel, which hops from fiction to forensic disaster tales, gives us a glimpse of the prejudiced and hurried manner in which a man is sent to his death, on a string of flimsy and constructed evidence. Set in the United States during the 1910s, the book can at times be heavy on detail, although the way in which Evans vividly depicts Stielow’s descent to hell gives the narrative considerable impetus.

Available from Amazon

Mapping the invisible: EU roma gypsies by Lucy Orta, Black Dog Publishing (2010)

Gypsies have always been captured in fairytales and literature fabling them in the European consciousness as the mysterious pariahs of society. Eschewing the accepted normalcy of traditional concepts of property their appeal has laid mainly in our ignorance and misunderstanding of the Roma way of life. This book looks to realign these misconceptions and throw light on this diaspora’s plight through breathtaking and some-times disturbing visuals of displacement. Here’s an uplifting and eye opening read exposing the lives of an all-to-often marginalised people.

Available from Amazon

Shoot the artist by Bjorn Tagemose, Ludion (2010)

“I am not Bjorn Tagemose the photographer, or Bjorn Tagemose the solo artist. I am a director, a translator of other people’s desires… a multimedia manipulator.” Such is the way ‘Shoot the Artist’, Tagemose’s book recounting many of the shoots he’s produced, begins, in classic self-deprecating form. Spawning the fashion, commercial, music and art worlds, ‘Shoot the Artist’ (which also happens to be the name of Tagemose’s collective of animators, technicians, light people, holograph experts and the likes) is a copious, behind-the-scenes look at the photographer’s prolific career as a masterful jack-of-all trades – which began with a first photograph for Walter Van Beirendonck (the now-cult ‘Finally Chest Hair’ image). A somewhat difficult book to navigate (it is actually made up of smaller albums each devoted to one of his jobs), but an enriching page-turner nonetheless.

Available from Amazon

Michaël Borremans: paintings by Jeffrey D. Grove, Hatje Cantz (2009)

The first of its kind to include all of Michaël Borremans’ work, this volume provides a complete overview of the Belgian artist’s universe. Hailed as one of the finest contemporary painters in Europe, his compositions explore complicated psychological states while vexing logic. Displaced objects are depicted as though they were breathing subjects and the human body is replicated as a figure of unconsciousness. The most striking are his ghostly portraits, based on random photographs picked from magazines. Deprived of identity, they express only silence. Unsettling yet captivating.

Available from Amazon

Viewbook: photostory, Blurb publishing (2009)

Annually held, the Viewbook PhotoStory competition is a platform for photographers from all around the world to submit their work and gain exposure on an international level. A brilliantly vibrant and varied anthology of the winning portfolios, These span from the emotive documentary of stoneworkers in Jaflong, Bangladesh to the whimsical portraits of the very dapper members of Congo’s Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes. PhotoStory 2009 isn’t your average coffee table book but a series of incredibly powerful and thought provoking works.

Available here

No wave by Marc Masters, Black Dog Publishing (2007)

Ask anyone who was there; it didn’t get any rougher than the New York of the late seventies. It’s therefore no surprise that the wastelands of the Lower East-Side spawned a sound described by critics as musical sadomasochism, ferociously avant-garde, militantly anti-melodic, inaccessible and anti humanist, also known as No Wave. Complete with live photos, artwork of the era and first person accounts by its protagonists and witnesses, Marc Masters traces the whole history of this anti-movement and spells the key to understanding its essence in two simple letters: N.O.

Available from Amazon

Words Renasha Khan

Emily Scream #1, 2008, Digigraphie

The book is a celebration of this exhibition and contains detailed essays giving a lucid insight into the cineaste’s creative vision – a vision extended beyond cinema, to animation, lithography, digital print, drawings, photography, installation and painting. What is clear from the book is that his allure and success as a filmmaker is rooted in a love and understanding of painting and fine arts.

The reproductions in Dark Splendor are comprehensive and remarkably captivating, engaging not only fans but also a wider audience too. The Distorted Nudes series (2004) displays Lynch’s obvious fascination with the macabre, something that is undoubtedly evident throughout his dramatic works such as his much lauded TV series Twin Peaks (1990). Such fluid diffusion of concepts across media can also be seen in the remarkably detailed pen and ink matchbook drawings. These depict surreal landscapes and dreamlike interiors inside matchbooks and are suffused with the same sense of foreboding and atmospherics, which are so characteristic of his cinematic offerings and are resonant throughout the prints in the monograph.

David Lynch: Dark Splendor is a fan’s dream in that it illustrates the sheer breadth of Lynch’s artistry and stands up to claims of his genius. One thing is for sure; Lynch’s place is secure as one of the most enigmatic and quixotically creative energies of the 20th century.

David Lynch, (1946-)

Untitled from the Industrial Motives series, undated, photographs

Untitled from the Distorted Nudes series, 2004, digital print

Buy here

David Lynch: Dark Splendour
Edited by Werner Spies, texts by Dietmar Dath, Stefanie Diekmann, Thomas W. Gaethgens, Andreas Platthaus, Peter-Klaus Schuster, Werner Spies, graphic design by KOMA AMOK
English 2010
352 pp., 346 ills.
Published by Hatje Cantz, Berlin

Photography Ulrike Biets

Thanks to Rolo Tomassi for letting us hop on their tour bus.

01.

Production, pocket-sized

The ever-growing portability of music production and performance is clear. Many musicians-especially DJ’s-can throw the majority of what they’ll need for an upcoming show in a bag, jump on an Easyjet flight from Berlin to wherever, and entertain eager listeners by the hundreds. The Play Station Portable—or PSP—helped to revolutionise portable entertainment, combining into one tiny object the services previously offered by both gameboys and home entertainment systems. And now, PSP and Rockstar games (and hip-hop producer Timbaland) have united to create the new program Beaterator. It is not just a video game, but a musical tool, a means to produce tracks electronically, professionally and portably. It’s a pocket studio.

Sony (€ 69,99) sonycenter.be

Beaterator (€ 12) rockstargames.com/beaterator

02.

Hard-as

Berlin-based Uslu Airlines’ nail varnish appeals to us on so many levels – every shade is named for an airport code – LAS (Las Vegas, USA) is a chunky blue glitter, WWI (WoodieWoodie, Australia) is cerise, while KNO (Knokke, Belgium) is appropriately old gold – the colours are ace, and they produce special varnish for DJs. So far they’ve collaborated with Headman (ZRH, pale blue), Ed Banger (PSG, lime green), Rollerboys (JMK, lilac) and Fetisch (THF, metallic steel – named in loving memory of Berlin’s Tempelhof). It seems almost a waste to lavish such care on fingers in an era when they’re more likely to be tapping the keys of their computers during a set than touching actual vinyl, but we must admit that we’re dead jealous.

USLU Airlines nailvarnish, (€ 21) available at Princess Blue (Antwerp) and Colette (Paris).

usluairlines.com

03.

You were saying ?

It seems ironic that a career in music can do such damage to the very organ that allows you to hear, but take it from us – the downside to heavy gigging in your 20s is damaged hearing in your 30s. Made-to-measure earplugs can cut out ambient noise when you listen to your iPod, or let you sleep on the tourbus. They block hazardous noise, but allow you enough hearing to have a conversation, and are (apparently) comfortable enough to wear all the time. Molded from rapid-setting silicone, the earplugs are produced and tested in just one 20 minute session, ensuring that your ears don’t go the way of Pete Townsend’s. Hello? Hello!

Sonomax bespoke headphones (€ 95+VAT) including fitting and testing.

astbelgium.be

04.

Freak Out Requiem (I-IV)

There’s pretty much nothing that we can say about Krautrock that wouldn’t get some nit-picking obsessive chasing after us with an arm-length list of corrections (the suggestion that Krautrock attracts nit-picking obsessives is probably enough to get the antagonistic ball rolling). So we’ll keep it brief. This is a book about late 1960s-70s West German experimental music, coming out of the commune movement, influenced by radical electronic composer Stockhausen, free jazz and general futuristic craziness. Not a genre so much as a diverse movement (the British press came up with the Krautrock tag), championed in the UK by DJ John Peel. Proponents may or may not include Faust, Can, Amon Düül I, Popol Vuh and Neu!. This looks at Kraturock’s roots and influence, with great visuals and contributions from muso bods including that unbelievably cool chick from Add (N to (X)), which, frankly, does it for us.

Krautrock, Cosmic Rock and Its Legacy (2009) by Ed Nikolaos Kotsopoulos – Black Dog Publishing

05.

Teen dream hygiene

The sanitary fixtures of the summer festival circuit are enough to reduce the toughest of bands to squeaking hysteria – and frankly, who among us hasn’t been psychologically scarred by the sight of mountains of ick rising above the level of the toilet seats, and the total absence of loo paper and washing facilities? No tour bus should be without ample supplies of bog roll, and a stack of Imodium to make sure that you don’t cut through your supplies too fast. Lack of washing facilities can (kind of, just) be made up for with wetwipes and antibacterial wash – tourbus etiquette also demands we mention that your FEET also need to be washed. And your socks changed. No, really. They do.

Wetwipes, handgel, lavatory paper and Imodium available in all good pharmacies.

06.

We don’t recommend doing this

As every classy barkeeper knows, the correct vessel in which to serve a Vodka Red Bull is a disposable plastic glass. No straw, no ice, no umbrella. Classy barkeepers, to be honest, are pretty snotty about Vodka Red Bull – usually it’s easier to purchase to the two fluids separately then mix them yourself – but we’ve discovered that it does have a name (‘Birch’, apparently, although ‘Heart Attack’ was cited as an alternative), which makes it a proper cocktail, no? Definitely not big, or cool, or clever. But for the purposes of documentary accuracy, we felt compelled to include it in our tourbus lineup.

Absolut Vodka and Red Bull, both available in nightshops across Europe. Prices may vary.

Writer Hettie Judah, illustrations Marcel Ceuppens

War is heavy metal

George Gittoes’ documentary Soundtrack to War explores the profound integration of music into the daily lives of Americans serving in Iraq. The iPod has allowed music to become omnipresent, and servicemen and women have become ingenious in wiring up tanks and other vehicles to speaker systems that play music from their MP3 players. Gittoes’ interviewees explained how they used to metal and rap music to psych themselves up to enter an environment in which – they felt – it was more than likely someone was going to try to kill them.

Many of Gittoes interviewees also composed and performed music while in Iraq, as a form of catharsis or self-expression. Servicemen performing freestyle for the camera noted wryly that the ‘tough guy’ street scenarios and gunplay described in commercial rap music were nothing compared to the horror of their own experiences of combat. One young soldier explained that he had begun composing gore metal songs shortly after having to remove the badly damaged body of a friend from a vehicle that had gone over an IED. While they distinguished between the ‘fantasy’ aspect of the music they listened to, and the hard reality of their service experience, the power of the music seemed, if anything, enhanced by its proximity to actual violence.

[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7548006816297243731#[/googlevideo]

Complementary ground is covered by musicologist Jonathan Pieslak in his recent book Sound Targets, for which he interviewed army personnel about their relationship with music. Sergeant First Class C J Grisham explains the transforming power that music had on him: “War is so ugly and disgusting…. It’s an inhuman thing. It’s unnatural for people to kill people. It’s something that no one should ever have to do, unfortunately someone does. And we happen to be that someone sometimes. And so listening to music would artificially make you aggressive when you needed to be aggressive.”

While Gittoes’ documentary looks at music as a form of escapism and self-expression, Pieslak goes further in exploring the root of certain forms of music’s association with violence and warfare. He traces, in particular, the way that heavy metal became first the genre of choice for action sequences in movies, then in video games – (“It’s just great music to game to. Especially if you’re pounding someone’s flesh in or crashing someone’s car, nothing beats heavy metal,” notes Steve Schnur, of EA Worldwide video games), eventually becoming the soundtrack of choice to American army recruitment ads.

Music used in this way allows the listener to psych him or herself into a ‘role’ – in creating a soundtrack to actual action it feeds into the fantasy persona, allowing both a sense of personal power and an edge of unreality. The power of fantasy can become very specific. C J Grisham describes blasting Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries from his truck during one attack in Baghdad, specifically evoking the famous helicopter attack from Apocalypse Now to simultaneously psych up his own soldiers and intimidate the Iraqi forces.

Let the bodies hit the floor

According to Pieslak, metal’s appeal functions on a number of levels. Its fanbase in America corresponds to a significant social demographic that the army recruits from – young white working and lower middle class males. Because of its use in the entertainment industry, it has associations with power, excitement and chaotic force. He also analyses the timbre and rhythms of some of the tracks most popular with the soldiers, and notes that they have a literally warlike sound. Examining the structure of Slayer’s Angel of Death he notes; “because these rhythms are articulated in ways that resemble gunfire, soldiers may feel empowered by the music that, for them, evokes the sounds of combat.”

Slayer’s Angel of Death

The empowerment experienced by soldiers while listening to heavy metal and rap music has also been turned outward, transforming the aggressive power of the music into a literal weapon. This took place notably at Fallujah in 2004, when military strategy for retaking control of the city involved bolting speakers onto the outside of the Humvees’ gun turrets and pounding out loud, relentless music to disorientate and exhaust the Iraqis as the soldiers surrounded the city. Since the music was being used as aggressive noise, the choice of the tracks used was left up to the soldiers on the ground and included AC/DC, Eminem and Guns n’Roses.

“Soldiers experiences have shown the transformative effect of music in combat preparation, and timbre has the power to bolster confidence and motivate listeners outside of themselves.” Pieslak concludes. “Paradoxically, the sound can irritate, frustrate, and psychologically break people down. It appears that metal, and to a slightly lesser degree rap, have the dubious distinction of being capable of both psychological effects,”

Listen for new weapons

In Sonic Warfare, Steve Goodman describes how a related strategy was used in the so called Urban Funk Campaign in the early 1970s during the Vietnam war, using helicopter mounted devices known as sound curdler systems. The curdler emitted high-decibel sound, rather than music specifically, and was also used in a strategy called Wandering Soul in which the voices of ‘ghosts’ of Vietnamese ancestors were broadcast above the treetops at night, to psychologically disconcerting effect.

Goodman also suggests that the British Ministry of Defence used “a device called the Squawk Box… during the troubles in Northern Ireland for crowd control.” The box, mounted on a Land Rover, would produce ultrasonic frequencies that when combined were “intolerable to the human ear, producing giddiness, nausea, or fainting or merely a “spooky” psychological effect.”

Goodman (better known as Dubstep artist Kode9) assumes a direct link between sound as a form of entertainment and sound as a form of oppression, regularly making reference to the “military entertainment complex”, but away from the deep theory and philosophy of academia, the connection between the two seems more like furiously dark irony than sinister cahoots.

Lost in music

While working on their album Heligoland, Massive Attack approached a number of artists whose work they admired to create short films to accompany an album track of their choice. Among these were Oliver Chanarin and Adam Broomberg whose photographic work over the last decade has often examined the complex position of the photographer in depicting human suffering. Having recently completed projects in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the duo initially proposed using the track Saturday Come Slow for a film about US Drones (remotely piloted planes).

Massive Attack’s Saturday Come Slow, featuring Damon Albarn

Massive Attack put them in touch with the human rights charity Reprieve that is currently running a campaign called ZeroDB to end the use of music in torture.  CIA run facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Morocco and at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba use extremely loud music to break down detainees. Those who have been through it explain that the relentless barrage has horrific psychological effects – they literally felt that they were losing their sanity.

“Massive Attack are very committed to ending capital punishment”, explains Ollie. “They started talking to us about the use of music in torture, they introduced us to Ruhal and it went from there.” Ruhal Ahmed is former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was submitted to interrogation techniques using high volume music – in the film of Saturday Come Slow he describes being short-shackled and blasted with cold air for up to two and a half days at a stretch with the constant sound of heavy metal music being interspersed with episodes of physical violence and intimidation.

Whereas metal had been used by the US soldiers for its supposed power as intolerable  – even diabolical – foreign music, this is clearly not the root of the devastating effect that it had in this instance. “Ruhal is an English kid; that music wasn’t a cultural barrage,” explains Ollie. “It was familiar – eventually that music becomes something completely abstracted.

Tracks used in this kind of interrogation have included music by Aerosmith, Rage Against the Machine, AC/DC, Metallica, Eminem, Nine Inch Nails, Britney Spears, Drowning Pool and even tunes from the kids’ shows Sesame Street and Barney. Ollie explains that Clive Stafford Smith, the founder of Reprieve was unable to get the American military to admit to using music in torture so filed a copyright infringement lawsuit to make them pay for the use of Eminem.

The Cambridge University professor interviewed in Saturday Come Slow explains that the nature of the music used in torture is less a factor than the volume and quality of the sound – distortion from cheap speakers used at top volume was likely to be more of an irritant than the music itself, and continued exposure to noise at high volumes can cause permanent damage to the ear.

Chopped Liver‘s Adam Broomberg and Olivier Chanarin’s Saturday Come Slow

The film specifically focuses on the effects of sound and vibration on the human ear, but Ollie still finds it hard to divorce the notion of music as noise from music as something created and expressive. “Music is something that we all associate with joy or pleasure,” he explains. “That transformation is so horrifying – that the beautiful thing becomes something intolerable.”

Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War, Jonathan Pieslak (Indiana University Press, 2009) – Available here

Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect and the Ecology of Fear, Steve Goodman (MIT Press, 2010) – Available here

Photography Yassin Serghini, Art direction Melisande McBurnie, Defacto model Lalita Davis

The shot we ran with

For Amazon links:

Design Revolution (Thames & Hudson), Remake it Home (Thames & Hudson), Birth of the Cool (Prestel Publishing), Like Lipstick Traces (Dokument Press), Men in the Cities (Schirmer/Mosel), 60 Innovators Shaping our Creative Future (Thames & Hudson), Tatoo Book (Maurizio Carraini)

Tryouts

And more tryouts

All books available from Amazon:

Studio Culture (2009) by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy – Unit Editons

Antwerp Street Style (2009) by Jens Mollenvanger – Ludion

Bibliographic (2009) by Jason Godfrey – Laurence King

Oil (2009) by Edward Burtynsky – Steidl/Corcoran

American Power (2009) by Mitch Epstein – Steidl

Born in the Streets (2009) – Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain

This Book is Elektronic (2009) – Ludion

Photography Yassin Serghini, Art Direction Melisande McBurnie

Photography Yassin Serghini, Art Direction Melisande McBurnie

Photography Yassin Serghini, Art Direction Melisande McBurnie

Edited by Brussels-based journalist Guy Dittrich, the guide continues in its quest to, as he puts it, “give the design-savvy traveller a snapshot of the best of the best a city has to offer.”

Confirming its reputation for shining a new light on citites you thought you knew, the guide casts  a wide – and very sharp – eye over Brussels, with Guy (who is also responsible for the guide’s Prague, Frankfurt and Munich versions) digging deep into the city’s arteries to reveal his pick of design, architecture, travel, culture, food and retail outposts worth a nod. The ususal suspects are all present (Chez Moeder Lambic‘s cellar for example) as are rather more daring inclusions (Ingo Maurer‘s lighting for the Atomium to name but one). Combining its customary mix of arresting photography, crunchy wordbites and useful tips, the W* guide remains one of the most exhaustive directories available to the city-hopper and, although really meant for the Prada-totting traveler, will also appeal to locals seeking to re-discover their city’s cool-factor.

Make sure to tag along to Sterling Books this Friday 4th December 2009 from 19h00 to get a first peek at what made the pages, and what didn’t…

Wallpaper* City Guide Brussels, available from Amazon

An inside spread showing a view over Brussels

A map of Brussels gets the W* touch

Dissecting Brussels by districts

An inside spread with essential information

The Wallpaper* City Guide Brussels'cover

“Arnaud’s mad for books, essentially photography books: well, believe it or not there’s a whole neighbourhood dedicated to his passion in Tokyo: Jimbocho. Although the name’s sounds exotic, this is a place for people who take their hobby seriously. Streets of tightly packed bookstores that spill their content onto the pavement.

All the shops are on the same side of the street, constantly bathed in shadow. You see, the sun’s harmful rays could alter the beauty of their books (told you they took it seriously). You’ll find shelves packed with books along walls into alleys and ‘cul-de-sacs’, it’s like a living entity of paper veins and arteries pumping ink and spreading for miles on end.

I suspect the owners have interconnecting galleries or tunnels from the Second World War as each shop gives exactly the same price for the same book… No competition here then? Meanwhile, Arnaud’s running up and down the street like a 4-year old on a sugar high, trying to decipher the symbols on his little piece of paper with the ultimate bookstore’s address on it. I tag along, smoking cigarettes, desperately looking for the rare and endangered street ashtray.

Didn’t I tell you? You’re not allowed to smoke on the streets of Japan, except in designated areas and you’ll need at least a pigeon’s magnetic-field-recognition-system to find them. No bins either, how in Buddha’s name do they keep their streets so clean? These guys are the Swiss of Asia…”

Christien Meindertsma’s project to discover all the products made from a single pig (the titular 05049) ended up taking her 3 years, and included such unexpected products as wine, carbonless paper, zinc, medicine capsules, paint, cigarettes, toothpaste, heart valves and train brakes. The products were all exhibited at an installation in Rotterdam last year; for the book she has photographed them all on a 1:1 scale.

This is both a beautifully produced object (we particularly love the stud on the cover) and a very revealing piece of research; it totally chimed with our fondness for great graphic design and restless inquiry into the peculiar workings of the modern world.

Many thanks to Lisbeth Juul of the INDEX awards who very sweetly gave us a copy of PIG 05049, which won INDEX’s  Play category.

The book is available via Amazon.com. A limited edition of 50 have also been produced with pigskin covers and photo of Pig 05049.

The night’s invitees read like a guest list at a design geek’s surprise birthday bash, with big name agencies such as Spin, Biblioteque, APFEL and Tomato all present, as well as Adrian Shaugnessy (Studio Culture’s author and former agency director at Intro), Patrick Burgoyne (editor of Creative Review), Tony Hung (responsible for shaping Kylie Minogue‘s graphic identity) and, a personal favourite, Neville Brody (celebrated, amongst others, for his work with the now defunct The Face and for designing the record sleeves of Depeche Mode).

Big shout out to Frédéric at Coast (the only Belgium agency included in the book) for his account of the night’s happenings (white wine galore and a curry at Busaba Thai, although I personally would have opted for their Pad Kwetio), for sending through the pictures and for hauling a copy of the book (soon to be reviewed) back from his London trip for us.

And of course, we wish nothing but the best to Unit Editions…

Coast's Frederic Vanhorenbeke and Studio Culture author Adrian Shaugnessy