L E G M O U N T A I N

JKR showed me these. He’s good at things like that.

I found this excellent cover of Architectural Review which got me thinking the magazine, that I have never really thought about.In a piece called “Retrospect” in the Architectural Review of February 1971, the leaving editor of over 30 years, J.M. Richards wrote this, which I thought was pretty insightful:“another essential role of the architectural magazine: criticism – of architects and all their works, of the opportunities they are given and of the conditions that allow, or don’t allow, them to make their proper contribution to the world.There is still not enough informed and constructive criticism of architecture, and it is sometimes asked why architectural magazines do not pillory the bad buildings, instead – as they mostly do at present – of criticising them only by implication; by ignoring them and paying attention instead to the buildings they think worth serious discussion. Perhaps they should attack the bad more positively, though this would make it all the more necessary to reach beyond subjective and appearance criticism; to look critically not only at the result but at the programme.Criticism in my experience had not been made easier by the touchiness of many members of the architectural profession, who claim to approve of it but resent its being applied to themselves.”

Penguin books and their iconic covers have a place in history that merits study and appreciation. They have influenced generations of readers and played an important role in our cultural heritage. Over the years new cover designs have appeared, and in the 1950s a transition took place from typographical to pictorial covers. This was followed by the introduction of a radically new cover design in the 1960s, and the launch of a Penguin science fiction series with covers featuring reproductions of abstract and surrealist art.

1. organise before they rise
2. they feel no fear, why should you?
3. use your head: cut off theirs
4. blades don’t need reloading
5. ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair
6. get up the staircase, then destroy it
7. get out of the car, get onto your bike
8. keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert
9. no place is safe, only safer
10. the zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on

Another great programme from Creative Time.

The Infinite Library is an ongoing project by Daniel Gustav Cramer and Haris Epaminonda.  It is primarily an expanding archive of books, each created out of pages of one or more found books and bound anew. The online catalogue serves as an index.

‘The book objects (…) are each made from pages of existing books removed from their bindings and rebound as one. Some of these series loosely relate to each other via a third element: geometrical shapes abstracted from the images, computer-edited, and overprinted on the originals. The disparate image stocks become intertwined and open on one another. Having transcended any thematic organization, the loose pages now have the potential to amalgamate into an infinite number of new books. In so doing, they yield a library that defies conventional categorization.’

Dominikus Müller for bb5

www.theinfinitelibrary.com