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Books
Active Agency
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Alternative lexicons, sonification of thought, cultural software, hauntologies and political bodies, are some of the possibilities that are offered here as a means to contribute to a renewed set of ideas towards design agency. Presented here as both lecture and prompts, sections may be read aloud as scripts, as action with others; or single pages torn out to become a tactic for experimentation; or an image to evoke a totem of belief that might interact with others.
Active Agency is a series of speculative lectures on design as an agentive phenomena encompassing language, matter, ontology and sound.
Supported by Research at Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts at University of the Arts London.
Out of Print (originally published as an edition of 50)
166 pages
110 x 180mm (4.33 x 7.09 inches)
English
ISBN 978-0-9573509-6-0
Published by Books From The Future
Edited by Yvan Martinez
Designed by Afyx Office
Researchers: Sadhna Jain, Yvan Martinez, Joshua Trees
Contributors: Åbäke, Jacob Pardoe
Journey to Mount Analogue
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‘You are about to commence a journey beyond the bounds of possibility, a climb to where realities don’t come by divine revelation. You will venture into the unknown. You will perform all kinds of experiments in order to see. You must become human before seeking transfiguration.’
— M.A.A.F. (Mount Analogue Ascenders Federation)
Journey to Mount Analogue is an expanded edition of the 1959 novel Mount Analogue by René Daumal, introducing new layers and levels of adventure. Readers are challenged to undergo Daumal’s unfinished quest while manoeuvring through the Rotherhithe Picture Library’s stacks and Wikipedia articles organised by elevation from the Earth’s inner core to its outer summits.
Sold Out
First edition, 100 copies (stamped and numbered)
Single colour risograph
86 pages (58 French-folded and perforated)
A4: 210 x 297mm (8.27 x 11.69 inches)
Hardcover (blind debossed, foil blocked, coil bound)
English
ISBN 978-0-9573509-5-3
Published by Books From The Future and Platform Editions
Edited by Jacob Lindgren, Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees
Concept and design by Jacob Lindgren
Introduction by Yvan Martinez
Performance Society
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Performance Society is a compilation of critical and performance writing on Performance.
Experience has moved to the centre of cultural, economic and political action. Technology, its catalyst. Fantasies, Feelings and Fun, its currency. Postdigital selves enact the Aesthetics of Existence. Art as Life. Work as Play. Sign as Reality. Welcome to Performance Society.
Artists and designers revisit notions of performativity and myth-making in relation to contemporary society and current affairs, drawing new parallels between theatre, performance art and graphic design.
Contributors: Vicky Carr, Jack Clarke, Karolina Cialkaite, Loes Claessens, Georgia Cranstoun, Josiah Craven, William Fairbrother, Jurate Gacionyte, Léa Gallon, Paul Haworth, Lars Høie, Tom Joyes, Halima Olalemi, Elisa Raciti, Jakob Rowlinson, Alberto Ruiz Soler, Tereza Ruller, Oliver Smith, Kirsten Spruit, Merve Ünsal, Bryce Wilner
In July 2017, the book was launched at Evening Class alongside lecture-performances by Claude Marzotto & Maia Sambonet, Tom Joyes and Franek Wardyński.
Sold Out
Edition of 250
Single colour risograph
290 pages
130 x 195mm (5.12 x 7.68 inches)
Softcover
English
ISBN 978-0-9573509-4-6
Edited and designed by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees
Sporting Grotesque by Lucas Le Bihan (Velvetyne Type Foundry)
Model and Countermodel
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Model and Countermodel is a reader of collected texts about practitioners* who have proposed risky yet rigorous alternatives to conventional wisdom across art, design and architecture including exemplary attitudes, frameworks, methodologies and methods.
In November 2016, a printed and comb-bound edition was featured in Practices of Enquiry, an exhibition of experimental enquiry-based learning by students, graduates and staff of University of the Arts London.
* Ralph Ball and Maxine Naylor, Lisa Ben, Ulises Carrión, Salvador Dalí, Karen Finley, Buckminster Fuller, Gilbert & George, Pablo Helguera, Allan Kaprow, Peter Kardia et al, Július Koller, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Norman Potter, Tony Schwartz and Superstudio.
Volume 1
176 pages
A4 (210 x 297 mm / 8.27 x 11.69 inches)
English
Compiled by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees
Designed by Jack Clarke
MLBB053
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The multiple lives of a blank book is a cross-cultural tale of bookness, blankness and multiplicity, bringing the cinematic genre of documentary fiction to the printed page.
50 contributors were provided with a blank book to use as a symbol, tool or prop for conducting and documenting experimental enactments. The resulting story – a sequence of deeds, episodes, tableaus and vignettes – seeks to reveal as much about the zeitgeist as it does about the book.
Over 200 photographs are presented alongside texts including an essay on blank books encompassing histories of book arts, conceptual art and cinema by Federico Antonini, notes on the role of documentation in contemporary publishing by Darius Ou Dahao, reflections on the Philippine's counterfeit textbook market by Clara Lobregat Balaguer, tips for hiding valuables in books by Per Törnberg, a manifesto for elevating graphic design by Masaki Miwa, and a new poem by John Freeman.
Published in parallel with But now space was part of the object¹ (Zyxt and Booksfromthefuture, 2015).
Contributors:
Luigi Amato, Federico Antonini, Joana Chicau, Hyunho Choi, Cecilia Denti, Matheus de Paula, Neil Donnelly, Rafaela Drazic, Spassky Fischer, John Freeman, Simon Goode and Ira Yonemura, Luana Graciano, Kristian Henson, Thomas Hervé, David Horvitz, Helge Hjorth Bentsen, Eric Hu, Hirofumi Isoya, River Jukes-Hudson, Tomoko Kawai, Ayse Koklu, Sean Kuhnke, Marie Lécrivain, Jen Lee, Clara Lobregat Balaguer, Corbin Mahieu, Claude Marzotto, Esa Matinvesi, Rita Matos, Kevin McCaughey, Niko Mihaljevic, Masaki Miwa, Jangs Müller, Jan Novák, Jozef Ondrik, Darius Ou Dahao, Pimeriko, Kasper Pyndt, GaEun Ryu, Ryo Shimizu, Soji Shimizu, Ying Tong Tan, Per Törnberg, Joseph Townshend, Risa Tsunegi, Ghazaal Vojdani, Seiko Watanabe, Lena Wurz, Makoto Yamada, Nobuo Yoda
First edition
Print on demand
292 pages
107.95mm x 174.752mm (4.25 x 6.88 inches)
Softcover
English
ISBN 978-0-9573509-3-9
Editors: Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees with Krister Olsson
Design: Joana Chicau, Cecilia Denti, Matheus de Paula, Luana Graciano, Yvan Martinez, Claude Marzotto, Krister Olsson, Kevin McCaughey, GaEun Ryu, Joshua Trees, Lena Wurz
BNSWPO1
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But now space was part of the object¹ is an inquiry into whether or not a typeface can be absent in its own type specimen. Negative space becomes positive space, secondary becomes primary, reference becomes content. False protagonist Booq Alt delivers the performance of Booq—a typeface whose identity can only be imagined through the interplay of transcribed lectures from Booksfromthefuture Summer School 2015 and a pool of public domain images.
A publication by Masaki Miwa and Ying Tong Tan, published in parallel with The multiple lives of a blank book (Booksfromthefuture, 2015).
First edition
Print on demand
388 pages
107.95mm x 174.752mm (4.25 x 6.88 inches)
Softcover
English
ISBN 978-1-326-40233-4
Publishers: Zyxt and Booksfromthefuture
Editors: Masaki Miwa, Ying Tong Tan, Yvan Martinez, Joshua Trees
Guest Editors: Krister Olsson, Esa Matinvesi
Concept and design: Masaki Miwa and Ying Tong Tan
Flatland, see Flatland
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Flatland, see Flatland blends three genres – the annotated novel, the parallel novel and the reimagined classic – into a fantastical edition of the 1884 science fiction novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edward Abbott Abbott. Twelve designers collaborated to produce a reading experience that is both idiosyncratic and systematic. Abbott’s original text is juxtaposed with graphic intrusions, marginalia and subplots guaranteed to engage readers of all dimensions ‘throughout the universe, in perpetuity’.
First edition
Print on demand
212 pages
A4: 210 x 297mm (8.267 x 11.692 inches)
Softcover
English
ISBN 978-0-9573509-2-2
Editors: Yvan Martinez, Joshua Trees, Dante Carlos
Foreword: Ken Hollings
Design: Johanna Asseraf, Dante Carlos, Emma Kalkhoven, Timothy Klofski, Elodie Märki, Yvan Martinez, Anya Radzevych, Line Arngaard Sørensen, Tsukasa Tanimoto, Joshua Trees, Marie-Pier Tremblay, Xue Wen
Thoughts experiments in graphic design education
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Thought experiments in graphic design education documents an international mix of experimental, reflexive and speculative projects made by students, educators and practitioners who continue to question how and why graphic design is studied and practiced.
Contributors: Bart de Baets, Stuart Bailey, Delphine Bedel, Victor Boullet, Lionel Bovier, Dante Carlos, James Corazzo, Daniel Eatock, Bianca Elzenbaumer, Kenneth Fitzgerald, Fabio Franz, John Hammersley, Harrisson, Ken Hollings, Brockett Horne, Scott King, Ken Kirton, Jono Lewarne, Alexander Lis, Yvan Martinez, Armand Mevis, Rens Muis, Silas Munro, Sebastian Pataki, Stuart Price, Darren Raven, Alexander Shoukas, Rebecca Stephany, Jon Sueda, Joshua Trees, and many more.
Schools represented: After School Club; Art Center College of Design; CalArts; California College of the Arts; Central Saint Martins; ERG, Belgium; Geneva University of Art and Design; Gerrit Rietveld Academie; The Institute of Social Hypocrisy; KABK, The Hague; London College of Communication; Lost in the Forest Institute; Merz Academie; MIT; North Carolina State University; Parsons, The New School for Design; Royal College of Art; San Francisco Art Institute; Stockport College; IAUV, Venice, Italy; The University of the West of England; Werkplaats Typografie
Sold Out
Edition of 500
Riso printed
330 pages
176 x 250mm (6.93 x 9.84 inches)
Softcover
English
ISBN 978-0-9573509-1-5
Editors: Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees
Design: Ponto
Jaime Gili: Repetition
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Jaime Gili: Repetition offers a conceptualist approach to the formalist genre of the artist monograph. Designed during a workshop about the book as a curatorial space, readers can experience Gili's work from different angles as the paintings transform and travel across consecutive pages.
The book contains an interview between Jaime Gili and Pablo León de la Barra. During the course of discussion, ideas are exchanged about the integration of art and architecture in relation to Gili's evolution and international recognition, including a recent commission for one of the world's largest murals painted on industrial storage tanks in Portland, Maine.
Read more about this project at the Walker Art Center.
Sold Out
Edition of 500
Riso printed
84 pages
135 x 190mm (5.31 x 7.48 inches)
Softcover
English and Spanish
ISBN 978-0-9573509-0-8
Editors: Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees
Design: Hyunho Choi
School
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Books From The Future explores ‘school’ as a framework for advanced artistic research, both independently and within educational institutions. In partnership with artists, designers and researchers, we design temporary learning situations for discovery and experimentation. Outputs include books, exhibitions, lectures, performances, workshops, fonts, sound and video.
2019 — Theory objects
in collaboration with Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania
led by Joshua Trees
2018 — Counter-narratives
led by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees
guest practitioners: Sadhna Jain, Jack Clarke, Ken Hollings, Ayse Koklu, Franek Wardynski, Lia Forslund
Read more at It’s Nice That
2017 — Stories of social exclusion
in collaboration with Sheffield Institute of Arts
led by Yvan Martinez, Joshua Trees, James Corazzo
guest practitioner: Joe Rolph
2016 — Performative publishing
led by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees
guest practitioners: Jack Clarke, Ayse Koklu, Jakob Rowlinson
2015 — Networked narratives
led by Yvan Martinez, Joshua Trees, Krister Olsson
guest practitioners: John Freeman, Esa Matinvesi, Gustavo Grandal Montero, Federico Antonini
2014 — Typographic systems
led by Yvan Martinez, Joshua Trees, Dante Carlos
guest practitioners: Ken Hollings, Sheena Calvert, Ayse Koklu
2013 — Design education
in collaboration with London College of Communication
led by Yvan Martinez, Joshua Trees, Darren Raven
guest practitioners: Sophie Demay, Ken Kirton (Hato), Giulio Miglietta
2012 — Book as exhibition
led by Yvan Martinez, Joshua Trees, Jaime Gili
guest practitioners: Ben Freeman (Ditto), Sheena Calvert, Makoto Yamada
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About
Books From The Future is an artistic research platform based in London, founded by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees in 2012.
Books From The Future produces and publishes self-initiated research on contemporary culture, experimental communication and graphic design.
Yvan Martinez is Course Leader of BA Graphic Design Study Abroad Semester Programme at Central Saint Martins and Associate Lecturer for MA Graphic Design Communication at Chelsea College of Arts. Joshua Trees is Research Tutor for MA Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art and Associate Lecturer for MA Academic Practice in Art, Design and Communication at University of the Arts London.
For over twenty years, Yvan and Josh have been collaboratively working across the education/practice divide, leading workshops and research projects at schools internationally including ArtCenter, ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Bath School of Art & Design, Fabrica, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, San Francisco Art Institute, Sheffield Institute of Arts, UCLA DMA Summer Institute, University of the Arts London, Valand Academy and Vilnius Academy of Arts, while working with clients including Arkitip, Edwin, Emigre, The Face, Giorgio Camuffo, GLBT Historical Society, MTV, Nike, Urban Outfitters and Wieden+Kennedy. Their work has been exhibited widely and is part of the permanent collections of Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, Denver Art Museum, MoMA and SFMOMA.
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