“The word is the canary, and its feathers are falling out.”

After an extended hiatus, Four Minutes to Midnight returns with our thirteenth issue, a lovingly produced edition of typography and poetics, photography and collage, design polemics and radical politics, paper and ink. Thematically, the issue emerges out of our experience of the Québec Student Strike, but is not specifically “about” it, acting more as a reflection on 10 years of community organising, designing and publishing, making music, and strolling through gentrifying neighbourhoods in opposition to neoliberal capitalism.

The issue features visual art, writing and design from a diverse host of local and international contributors, including the Dutch design studio Experimental Jetset, performance artist and author Jacob Wren, Montreal photographer Vo Thien Viet, Toronto writer and editor Hillary Rexe, and the Montreal artist and collagist Madame Gilles.

The issue opens with a nod to David L. Burke’s 1970 design of Right On! A Documentary on Student Protest, with silver ink printed on black stock.

The Fugue plays a prominent role in the issue, a collaboratively written text spanning 40 pages, printed in black and fluo pink.

A collaboration with painter Alex Schaefer, from his brilliant series of banks on fire.

Out of a desire to return to some of the original ideas behind the 2356 project; to engage with graphic design’s relationship to ideology and politics, we’ve included an extensive interview with Experimental Jetset, prefaced by a rant of my own.

An 8-page folio of psychedellic collages by Madame Gilles.

More silver on black printing featuring Nazik Dakkach’s “Exil” street-art piece.

There are far too many people to thank for helping out with the issue, but much deserved shout outs to:
• The Howl Arts Collective for including our launch as part of the inaugural festival programming, and for feeding inspiration and art into the issue.
• My long-standing (long-suffering?) printers and collaborators, Kata Soho, for their hard work and sage advice. (The cover was silkscreen printed by La presse du chat perdu.)
• Claudine Lamothe for consistently encouraging me to put out another issue at a time when I was ready to call it quits.

Many thanks to Julie Langenegger Lachance for documenting the issue.

PURCHASE FOUR MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT ISSUE 13

Four Minutes to Midnight is available in Montréal at these fine establishments:

Concordia Community Solidarity Co-op Bookstore
2150 Bishop Street ~ 514 . 848 . 2046

Drawn & Quarterly Bookstore
211 Bernard Ouest ~ 514 . 279 . 2224

Librairie Formats
2 Sainte-Catherine Est, espace 302 ~ 514 . 842 . 5579

Monastiraki
5478 St-Laurent ~ 514 . 278 . 4879