In the Spotlight: Arirang Performance Group is a book of documentary photographs by Lee Dongkeun, who mainly photographs those on the periphery of society. The book is a seven-year record of Arirang Performance Group, a performance troupe made up of North Korean defectors who preserve the culture of their homeland in music and dance. The photographs are a straightforward record of the lives of the performers, who jump between the kitsch realism of their shows, presenting North Korean music and dance to audiences using gaudy costumes and props, and their ordinary lives, existing on the fringes of society as part of the diaspora resulting from the nation’s division but still not accepted as “Korean.” The main theme running through the editing and design of this book is “crossing.” The ambiguity of the division between the front and the back of the book hints at concepts of north and south and crossing between the two. In attempting to understand what systems and ideologies the star on the cover symbolizes, readers are led to imagine what others might think. The book repeatedly juxtaposes flashy photographs of the troupe with images of the desolate Tumen River or the Sino-North Korean border. It is also notable that publication information only appears one-third of the way into the book. In the Spotlight: Arirang Performance Group reinterprets North Korea in polished images and uses its distinct cross-cutting concept to convey the lives and ordeals of North Korean defectors.

The art brochure New Normal is a record of the eponymous exhibition held at the Old House from February 28 to March 27, 2020. Showing alternative families that fall outside of the category of “normality” as defined by Korean society, the exhibition asked what “abnormal” relationships are like and whether they must be explained—perhaps such relationships are already present in our lives, functioning quietly. The book’s sturdiness is evident at a glance. Perfectly symmetrical without a single skewed line, the synthetic leather cover is curiously satisfying to touch, featuring crystal-clear gold lines. The text is printed in Buri and Serif typefaces and the pages feature varying center and image layouts. The book makes a remarkable effort to summarize countless ideas that befit an investigation into alternatives to the “normal” family model.

Taking cues from Yi Sang’s poem “Au Magasin de Nouveates,” Mieum (ㅁ) is a complex, multidisciplinary publication that compiles work by figures in the fields of architecture, music, art, mathematics, geometry, literature, language, and film in various languages (such as French, Japanese, and Chinese, plus Korean and English translations) and formats (such as blueprints and scores). Its unique editing and design strategy is evident in the “main book” in which texts have been compiled in their original languages and the small, translated book that includes interpretations of the texts by designers. The main book retains the original graphics and text as much as possible, allowing Mieum to strike a fine balance between designs that have been processed by contemporary designers and those that highlight the original version, which work together to engage readers. The colorless and plain binding and table of contents neatly organize the complicated structure of the book into one concise object.

Poetry and Strolling, Strolling and Romance, and Love and Alcohol are the sixth, fifth, and fourth books of the Flow of Words series. Round instead of sharp, cute rather than tacky and dramatic, Love and Alcohol is queer writer Kim Gwenzhir’s first collection of essays on relationships and alcohol. Eugene Mok’s Strolling and Romance is a quiet essay about her life. Poetry and Strolling is a neat collection of essays about the time that author Han Jeongwon has spent on reading poetry, talking walks, and pondering the meaning of life. The Flow of Words series takes a popular word chain game as its motif and attempts to rekindle the public’s waning interest in literature by linking people to people, words to words, hearts to hearts, and stories to stories. The covers make a clear and pretty impression, with the front and the back each featuring single word with bright colors filling in the space between the letters.

With keen insight, Kim Kyuhang, author of Revolution Note, analyzes politics, the economy, society, culture, art, education, people, and social affairs to talk about the fundamental social system that doesn’t just support individual hierarchical revolutions, but also promotes solidarity among individuals. Based on the idea that the seemingly endless condition of the “unforeseeable world” we live in is not a temporary blight upon capitalism but an expression of its true nature, the writer bitingly asks fundamental questions that readers might have previously ignored, rejected, or even forgotten about. The book refuses to follow typical design conventions. Its editing and design work closely together to support the content of the book. The 119 short but sharp pieces of writing feature footnotes that are formatted identically with the main text, an act that overturns the hierarchy typically expected of texts and changes the rhythm of reading. The unique composition of the book matches its title. Revolution Note is remarkable in its size, paper, and binding as well as in its address of diverse issues regarding editing and content analysis.

Conrad McRae Youth League Tournament compiles photographs, taken by Ari Marcopoulos from 2014 to 2019, of the Conrad McRae Youth League Summer Tournament held at Dean Street Playground in Brooklyn, New York. The tournament was established in the summer of 2000 in memory of Conrad Bastien McRae (1971–2000), a talented basketball player who had built his career in France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey and died that year during a training session for the Orlando Magic summer league in Irvine, California. Tournament founders Anton Marchand, Cleon “Silk” Hyde, and Troy Lemond remember their childhood friend every summer through the event. Open to basketball players over the age of six, the tournament brings in the best student players in New York. With very little text, the book chooses to tell its story through photos. The players’ stories, neighborhoods, and communities are impeccably edited and have been published on carefully selected paper. Turning the pages is like listening to the woosh of a basketball soaring through the air.

Although Electric Generator might look like an avant-garde Russian magazine, it is actually a meticulously designed operating manual for the titular appliance. In terms of both graphics and typography, this book employs various unassuming, clear, and neat methods. Even for those uninterested in the structure of a generator, Electric Generator is a surprising and engaging work that invites readers to discover the harmony between technology and graphics.

Marianne Hurum: Krabbe is a selection of photographs and sculptures by Marianne Hurum from 2016 to the present. In recent years, Hurum’s works have had a major impact on the development of Norwegian painting. Designed by Levi Bergqvis and Carl Gürgens, this book includes two new essays that contextualize Hurum’s works by young art historians Ellef Prestsæter and Maria Horvei. An enticing art catalogue printed by the famous Göteborgstryckeriet and published by the Lillehammer Art Museum with a strict approach to design, the book uses an interesting mixture of paper to convey the meaning of the featured artworks. The text is printed on colored pages and the chapters are marked by abstract symbols taken from Hurum’s works. Thanks to these design elements, readers can experience Hurum’s artworks without having to go to the museum.

Questions regarding privacy, national borders, and statehood are constantly on our minds. Data Centers. Edges of a Wired Nation dives into Swiss data centers that gained importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents essays and photographic records on diverse issues that affect us, including those of privacy, national borders, statehood, contagious diseases, and the relationship between energy consumption and climate change. Taking Switzerland as an example, the book deals with the country’s data centers, law firms, private companies, and government organizations that are involved in the development, management, and regulation of digital infrastructure. In this endeavor, it exposes diverse and sometimes contradictory stories that lie on the other side of Switzerland’s well-known mild climate, political stability, and relatively clean energy. The strength of this book lies in its clarity. The text is printed in binary black and white, and the typography gives readers an attractive and technical impression. This is also conveyed in the book’s block-shaped infographics that resemble server cabinets used at data centers.

Demonstrationsräume. Künstlerische Auseinandersetzung mit Raum und Display im Albertinum is a book about a unique space created at a 1926 state art exhibition in Dresden by El Lissitzky (1890–1941). A Russian constructivist, Lissitzsky worked across the genres of painting, graphic design, architecture, typography, and photography. The space he created expressed the concept that space and audience are components of an artwork and that art can be made more accessible through spatial organization. The book’s question lies in how space, audience, and time change the character of an artwork. The title of the book quotes one of the terms that the artist used in his design, “demonstration rooms.” His experimentation with space and context is carried on by the layout of the book, which is long and thin in shape and features a division in the middle, resulting in a startling visual effect.

Transformation de la Gare, CH-1800 Vevey, a large but light book, features many bold colors. It is divided into six parts, which are folded, cut open, and bound into a book that is half the paper’s original size. The book presents the station’s architectural, structural, technical, cultural, and historical context. Picture essays, a list of related companies, and extensive publication information combined with the design identity of Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB) create diverse visual languages on the book’s thin coated paper. Considering the large range of potential readers, the book is extremely experimental and daring in its editing, information design, and typography. Taking a detailed, unconventional approach to a subject that might not interest everyone, the book uses aesthetics that target the general public.

Almanach Ecart. Une archive collective 1969–2019 is a research publication about the archive of Ecart, a group of artists founded in Geneva in 1969, that presents intriguing materials in a highly structured conceptual order. Each page holds a datable facsimile document, such as a letter, postcard, invoice, or invitation, along with brief commentary. The documents are organized in chronological order, one for each day of the year, spanning a period of at least 10 years. Dates and page numbers are set in a fixed location on the pages, but the arrangement of different-sized documents has been executed more freely. These materials testify that in the era of Situationism and Fluxus, even administrative documents were used as artworks. This expansive archival presentation creates an informative record of the 1970s group. The use of a brown dust jacket made of wrapping paper, a grey cardboard binding, and a font used in past Ecart newsletters emphasizes the archival nature of the book.

The hard, fake leather cover, coarse linen-wrapped spine, small size, and unexpected title placement at the top and bottom corners of the cover (in gold embossed letters) give Heimat, Handwerk, und die Utopie des Alltäglichen a striking effect. Dealing with the concept of “homeland” in the architecture and landscape design of the first half of the 20th century, this book is composed of critical essays accompanied by historical texts and pictures. Its meticulous appearance makes the reader curious about whether the book is critical of its subject. The main text is printed within wide, fancy gutters. The solemn mood of the book is offset by large indents at the beginning of the paragraphs and captions, which, printed in silver, extend across the width of the top edge. The placement of pictures to the left of the columns and page numbers only on the right side result in a depth of the space in the main text and on the left pages, respectively; centered headlines create additional stark contrast. These elements of typographic irony do not dilute the serious analysis of the book, but rather emphasize the critical distance—a subtle achievement of the publication.

A traumatic event does not simply fade when it is forgotten. If it exists in one’s memory, one cannot go back to normal. Other Evidence: Blindfold records the Srebrenica massacre of 1995, during which more than 8,000 lives were lost. The book uncovers materials and evidence of the crime possessed by the International Criminal Court and translates the 50,000 pages of autopsy reports and 30,000 pieces of photographed evidence into an objective presentation. As an artist’s book, Other Evidence is like a monument, helping us achieve something by capturing things that we cannot understand due to visual or material obstacles. This book does not play with tropes or try to impress readers with the typography. It will be valued and kept as an expression of shell-shocked shame. When people pick up the book from time to time, they will ask themselves: “How could this have happened?”

This weighty book of extensive materials deals with the works of Meret Oppenheim, one of the most famous European artists of the 20th century. In 92 pages, Meret Oppenheim. Worte nicht in giftige Buchstaben einwickeln reproduces more than 1,000 documents that have not been published for 70 years, plus a collage of pictures and a handwritten autobiography by the artist at 45. Including letters to her mother, father, and husband as well as to artists Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Leonor Fini; intellects André Breton and André Pieyre de Mandiargues; and curators Franz Meyer, Bice Curiger, and Jean-Christophe Ammann, the never-before-published documents provide an intimate insight into Oppenheim’s life and work. In terms of design, the book’s remarkable use of large, broken text encourages readers to engage. Although the large typeface does not use wide spacing, the bold and slim letters give the double column design some room to breathe. Footnotes are placed unconventionally in the narrow space between the columns in single or double rows and printed in dark grey. The overall look is solemn and systematically structured. Meret Oppenheim demonstrates a clever use of diverse pastel colors for the album pages in the facsimile section on various types of paper.

In La Résidence, J.H. Engström’s photographs lead us to what makes us the most insecure—loneliness—but instead of giving answers about the absurdity of the human condition, they present a profound experience. These photos are by no means easy to decipher. Unlike other photographs in which the photographer’s intentions are clear, viewing Engström’s photos is like learning a new language. Every moment of his work is powerful, seductive, and motivating. He strives to live more by waiting behind, being restless, questioning, and going in circles. His genius lies in the juxtaposition of his displacement, his restlessness in what is considered a normal environment, and the comfort and the familiarity of a boring life in a bar. The 29 pictures included in this book, accompanied by 29 diary entries, made Engström one of the most revered Swedish photographers today. The book is both simple and complex in structure. Sequences of three photos at a time create a complete scene through the book’s folded-page design. Each sequence begins with images on two pages that are not divided by a barrier to indicate a change of subject. Then, the book seeps into life, lyrically and descriptively, with a few lines of writing, a long riddle, or a photo of a gesture or people. Reading the book is not a dramatic experience. There is no profound lesson to be learnt. But each sequence, like a piece or a jigsaw puzzle, stirs readers’ curiosity and creates a fascinating interactive experience.