Exhibition site

With nearly half a million books published in China each year, visual beauty and cover design have become "shortcuts" to make traditional paper books stand out in the marketplace, leading readers to believe that beauty has everything to do with how good a book looks. For readers who have never grasped the specialized vocabulary of book design - details such as the feel of paper, subtle spacing, line spacing, white pages, etc. - when visuality is equated with beauty (or, rather, design), does it inevitably create a "beauty without beauty" situation? inevitable situation?

"Chen Tianzhuo" © Studio NA. EO

The recent exhibition "Another Reading" at the Center for Visual Arts Berlin seems to seek an answer to this question. Featuring nearly 150 works by 20 contemporary book designers from China, the exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to take a closer look at these "beautiful books" and to understand that what was once known as book binding design is much more than just "cover design". The reality is that this is a process that has been used for many years. The reality is that this process today encompasses elements such as binding techniques, typeface and packaging design. The effect and influence of its use has extended from the perceived limited edition and contemporary art circles to more popular categories such as modern Chinese literature, thus making "beautiful books" ubiquitous and contributing to the diversity of practitioners.

Talking Play © Jiang Qian&Qu Minmin

The curator of this exhibition, renowned book designer He Miping, has explained, "Paper and binding are the two main features of Chinese book design. But today's Chinese book designers hardly follow the traditional 'wire binding' method exactly. They often take one of the elements, such as thread, stitching, origami, and paste, and combine them with modern design for a new interpretation." This analysis, which he presented at the 2018 exhibition "Chinese Binding - Chinese Book Design," which focused on the craft of wire binding, is still evident to date. Examples like Jiang Xi and Qu Minmin's design " Talking Play" (by Ke Jun and Wang Xiaoying).

Through the designers' rethinking, this book, which discusses Kunqu, successfully allows the "protagonist" to cross the traditional framework into a new environment, showing the current appearance of the times. Like a play, the book revolves around the "performance" of a Kunqu artist and an autistic audience member who is obsessed with Kunqu. As the play progresses page-by-page, the reader gains an appreciation for the new context of Kunqu. In terms of design language, the two Nanjing-based designers explain, "We tried to present an oriental text using paper and binding without any oriental characteristics. Because the text is borderless, the temperament can still emanate from within, even though it originates from the East."

So, with the combination of simple and soft paper and pearlescent white ink printing, the very chic hand binding of " Talking Play " allows each post to be loose but not loose, and allows the pages of different sizes to reveal novelty, and ultimately to be as "elegant and smooth as a Kunqu.

Farewell © PanYanrong

In the same vein, Pan Yanrong's "Farewell" (by Peng Cheng) is also a "paper" book. This small concept book looks like a small white box, but the pages inside are made of wrinkled white paper, and are printed in movable type with many emotions related to " separation" as described by the author. Especially in the moment of reunion after the fight against the epidemic. Therefore, the additional packet of tissues inside the box is extremely thoughtful.

Hong Kong-based Mak Kai-jor's book, "The Words I've Written, Heard and Spoken: Sixty Years of Writing and Speaking", demonstrates the importance he places on typography. The design of the book not only takes into account the works of the famous graphic designer Wanyi Shanren (also known as Anthony Wong) over the years, but also "explains" his past life experiences in different capacities with nearly 100,000 words, so the final shape of a heavy dictionary is very appropriate. The book's varying sizes, fonts and typography also reveal his style inspired by the traditional carved signage of Hong Kong. Most interesting, however, is the overall image of the book in black and white. This decision not only brings a strong aesthetic sense to the finished product, but also seems to bring out the author's retrospective and introspective side in the content, in order to get rid of the impression of "the father of red, white and blue" given by Watabe Yamato.

Chattering" © Makkaihang

The compactness and patchwork nature of the design of " Chattering" mirrors that of Guang Yu's "Between: "Black Paintings" series - Xing Hailong 2015". The Beijing-based artist is reluctant to call his work "art," he says. "Compared to 'art,' his works are more like essays and diaries, more normal and lifelike." In his house, his works are packed into a small space," says Guang Yu. They were even broken because they were folded and crushed. He didn't mind the damage, but used a piece of newspaper or a piece of tape to mend the painting from the back and left it there. This casual attitude became one of the distinguishing characteristics of Xing Hailong's works." As a result, this impressive image is also reproduced on the paperback cover, which in effect brings out the designer's "I won't reject anything as long as it turns out to be 'right'" approach to design.

Among the books, women designers are also in the spotlight. EO studio, or Shiwa, Lu Mingjing, and Yin Linlin, were also featured. The most eye-catching aspect of the former's "Chen Tianzhuo" collection is the "packaging" of absurd, bizarre and crazy artworks in a seemingly static A5 stapled book. The interactive "eye slices" on the cover reveal the truth of the content - no wonder veteran graphic designer Lu Tao called the work of Lizi Ban Studio "the most advanced work in the industry".

This Word, This Meaning" by Yi Yin Linlin

In addition, Yin's "China's Most Beautiful Books": "Minor Orthopedic Surgery" (by Yang Liqing and Fu Qin), "This Word, This Meaning" (by Xu Hui), and "Six Chapters of a Floating Life" (by Shen Fu) all demonstrate her ability to "deconstruct" design. In "Minor Orthopedic Surgery," she categorized 68 minor surgeries, attached x-rays and surgical notes, and set the pages in white, red, and light red before, during, and after surgery respectively, thus making the medical textbook artistic. In order to meet the meaning of the title of "This Word, This Meaning", Yin Linlin cleverly provided the functions of bookmark and table of contents with hidden folding pages; and for the concept of "Six Chapters of a Floating Life", she put the six chapters of the book into separate books, each in a "book box" cut and folded from a single sheet of paper, which not only made the reading experience more innovative, but also successfully broke the traditional book composition process.

fotobyHeBo © hesign10

Last but not least, the book design is of course the exhibition catalog. From the hand of He Miping, the "fragmentation" of the cover and back of the book - a thin strip of paper cut out - is immediately reminiscent of his award-winning book from 2018: "AGI New Members 2007-2017". He likens it to cornhusks, a design element that the reader can break off to discover the "fresh corn" within, and that corn is the designers in the exhibition. Although they come from different parts of China and different generations, they are all passionate about book design, which in turn makes their work as "crystalline and full" as corn kernels.

"Looking at these wonderful designs, we all know that it is the charm of the book itself that drives these dynamic and influential designers in contemporary China." He concludes.

Article Source:艺术与设计

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