Emilie Grenier is a close friend and collaborator; a talented, multidisciplinary artist whose work focuses on narrative, interactive experience and materiality. For her application to Central St. Martin’s Textile Futures MA, I designed a limited-edition artist’s book/portfolio showcasing her multi-faceted work.

The book consists of a long 50-page accordian fold, allowing readers to pull out and lay out sections of pages, creating their own narrative through Emilie’s work. The pages were beautifully printed by Photosynthese and expertly bound into book form by Fran Sendbuehler at No Bar Code Press. The tactile qualities of the rich inks, paper and binding make it a pleasure to hold and to fold.

And yes, of course she got in! Congrats Emi!

Many more photos after the jump.

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…not once, but twice this week!

First up, on Art Threat, where I speak to Rob Maguire about Imaging Apartheid: the Poster Project for Palestine. We’ve extended the deadline, so go submit some work!

And then, alongside partner in crime John W. Stuart, on the Kitchen Bang Bang Law on CKUT. We talk to Vincent Tinguely about the ideas behind Four Minutes to Midnight, the latest issue and our upcoming event (!!!). It’s actually rather insightful! Download the mp3 audio archive here, the interview starts about ten minutes in.

Thanks Rob, Vince!

Launch of Four Minutes to Midnight Issue 11: Happy Hour by FA Nettelbeck
with the bands Nightwood and The Lindbergh Line
with readings by Moe Clark and Vincent Tinguely

Friday, April 22nd @ Cabaret Playhouse (5656 ave. du Parc)
Doors 9PM, $8 door/$15 with a copy of the issue

“…but what more could / you expect when you’re / the last of your kind /
living amongst the / incompetent others / in the light they waste”
— F.A. Nettelbeck

Four Minutes to Midnight is proud to announce the publication of its eleventh issue. The double issue features Happy Hour, the final collection of work by American poet FA Nettelbeck (1950-2011), lavishly illustrated by Montreal-based visual artist Sophie Jodoin, and Fugue XI, an epic typographic cut-up poem edited by John W. Stuart, Kevin Lo, Hillary Rexe and Sara McCulloch.

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As I was going through my archives tonight, I realised I had never properly posted about this small pamphlet we produced and distributed back in 2008. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the new directions I want to take the magazine in (and the 2356 project generally), and this is a telling touchstone from the past to some of these ideas.

The pamphlet is a transcript of the speech delivered by cultural critic Brian Holmes at the Democracy in America exhibition, presented by Creative Time in New York in 2008. In it he compellingly argues for artists to engage with the radical opportunities presented by the financial crisis. A message as relevant today as it was then.

I first met Brian as part of the Declarations of Interdependence and the Immediacy of Design conference at Concordia University almost ten years ago. It was a heady time for me, with a lot of thinking about the relationship between design, art and activism. As a decade since then rounds out, I find myself thinking deeply about this again, and the position I’m now in to enact those ideas. So, many thanks Brian, for inspiring me in the first place, and allowing us to publish this important work!

Download Financial Crimes by Brian Holmes.

In Bb 2.0 is a collaborative music and spoken word project conceived by Darren Solomon from Science for Girls, and developed with contributions from users.

A simple idea, perfectly executed, beautiful and relevant… This project gives me some interesting ideas for the future development process of the Fugue. Could a similar approach be applied to collaborative poetry and its typographic expression?