Over a thousand years ago a form of material code emerged among the Andes mountains. By means of knotted ropes, called ‘quipus’, numbers and words were enacted. This publication The Andean Information Age knots together a universe of stories related to the quipu system, the history of its ongoing decipherment, and the disruption that this sensorial code may be able to trigger in our present. ↑ ↓ ↓

The motifs produced during time-intensive dyeing processes – which uses indigo, urine, and extracts of natural waste materials – are neither conventional fabric nor lace patterns, and they have only a distant relationship to batik painting. Yet, they are simulations and portraits of both. Pattern Nor Painting starts in a batik Workshop in Bantul, Indonesia where an artist reconnects with her blank canvas and the batik techniques she learned from an artist in Serekunda, the Gambia many years ago. As documented in this publication Van Hoorebeke’s installations and performances deftly combine unique textiles and ceramics with production-chain goods, ranging from car parts to strawberry jam. Engaging with ages-old traditions of batik production for present-day communities and settings, her work embodies ancient craft, story-telling, time, female thinking, and above all, a connection to the natural world. ↑ ↓ ↓

This book is an homage to the wisdom of potters and a journey into the depths of the ancient trade of pottery. Through beautiful imagery and delightful prose, the book explaines the wisdom of artisanal design and pottery’s important economical, social and identity-based roles. The book approaches pottery from a design perspective, touching on themes such as diversity in form, social contexts, funcionality, techniques and the challenges presented by modern times, providing us with the tools to understand pottery and potters in all their complexity. With a prologue by master ceramic artist, Gustavo Pérez, and photos by Paris Barrera. For explorers, there is a detailed guide to visit the 70 pottery villages presented in the book, with maps and directions. ↑ ↓ ↓

This long-awaited monograph presents the breadth of JB Blunk's practice and includes never-before-seen archival and newly commissioned photographs of jewelry, ceramics, paintings, furniture, sculpture and his hand built house. Edited by Mariah Nielson and Åbäke, the book features essays by Lucy Lippard, Glenn Adamson, Fariba Bogzaran and Louise Allison Cort. JB Blunk is designed by Åbäke, printed by die Keure and co-published by Blunk Books and Dent-de-Leone. ↑ ↓ ↓

Page after page Bruno Munari shows us a world hidden in the stones, populated by characters drawn along the stone’s lines and veins. While smiling at a monkey grabbed at the lianes-streaks we understand that the point of view can change a lot our perception of reality: a complex and philosophical theme tackled through a simple joke. An important book to see less and watch a little bit more. ↑ ↓ ↓

As part of the 50th anniversary of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, the exhibition Art on Display explores the display solutions found for the opening of the Museum in 1969 and focuses more generally on the design of museums and exhibitions at that time. The catalogue accompanying the exhibition opens with a curatorial note explaining the aims and characteristics of the exhibition, taking into account that it is held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon and at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam at different times. In addition, the catalogue reflects the dual objective of exploring both exhibition design at the Gulbenkian Museum and other significant examples of post-war international museography, as the essays written by each curator of the exhibition reveal: Penelope Curtis analyses the relationship between the Museum and exhibition design in other countries, especially the designs developed by Franco Albini, while Dirk van den Heuvel explores the exhibition as an urban space in the work of Aldo van Eyck, Alison and Peter Smithson and Lina Bo Bardi. The five case studies following these two texts provide greater detail about the projects that the exhibition aims to recreate: Palazzi Bianco and Rosso by Franco Albini, Museo Correr by Carlo Scarpa, First and Second International Exhibition of Experimental Art and Fifth International Sculpture Exhibition by Aldo van Eyck, Painting & Sculpture of a Decade 54-64 by Alison and Peter Smithson and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo by Lina Bo Bardi. Both the essays and the case studies are amply illustrated with drawings and archive photographs of the exhibitions cited, as well as with views of the exhibition at the Gulbenkian Museum. ↑ ↓ ↓

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