I AIN’T THE NOING UV IT…
Bergen Kunsthall, Norway

I AIN’T THE NOING UV IT I’M JUS ONLE THE SHOWING UV IT

First edition published by Bergen Kunsthall, Norway, 2017, on the occasion of the exhibitions ‘The Noing Uv It’, Bergen Kunsthall, 9 January – 15 February 2015 and ‘The Showing Uv It’, Simon Ling, Bergen Kunsthall, 27 February – 5 April 2015. Curated by Martin Clark and Steven Claydon. Editors: Martin Clark, Steven Claydon; 230pp; 230x236mm; 148 images; 2-colour soft cover with embossing. Texts by Martin Clark, Steven Claydon, Timothy Morton, Martin Herbert, Russell Hoban and Martin Westwood.

This was a treat; SecMoCo had the opportunity to work with Martin Clark and Steven Claydon again on the documentation for an exhibition, the themes and implications of which both had been formulating and discussing for a number of years.The design itself saw many changes, with on-going conceptual and formal reappraisal, ending up with a rigorous, thorough-going, appropriate solution.

From the gallery:
‘The Noing Uv It’ is an exhibition about objects and their image, matter and its memory, and the revealed and concealed nature of “things.” Addressing the possibility of a latent primitive consciousness in materials, it includes work by over 30 international artists, as well as a number of other objects, technologies and artefacts.

Curated by Martin Clark and Steven Claydon.
Artists: Michael Dean, Trisha Donnelly, Alex Dordoy, Michaela Eichwald, European Space Agency, Cerith Wyn Evans, Florian Hecker, Roger Hiorns, Russell Hoban, Yngve Holen, Jenny Holzer, Richard Hughes, IBM, Edward Ihnatowicz, Mark Leckey, Simon Ling, Sarah Lucas, Allan McCollum, Robert Morris, Jean-Luc Moulène, Matt Mullican, David Musgrave, Seth Price, Magali Reus, Hannah Sawtell, Paul Sietsema, Michael E. Smith, Haim Steinbach, Rudolf Stingel, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, James Welling, Martin Westwood, Bill Woodrow.

O[RPHAN] D[RIFT>]:Cyberpositive
Cabinet

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First edition published in 1995 by O[rphan] D[rift>]/Cabinet Editions (with support from Nick Land), on the occasion of the exhibition/installation at Cabinet, Brixton, London, in 1995.

Edited by Maggie Roberts; 448pp; 130×200 mm; 1x B&W image; 2-colour soft cover;
ISBN 0-952-58240-6; Anti copyright.

Design: O[rphan] D[rift>]/Secondary Modern (SecMoCo as was).

Contributors:
. Asked– Alec Dippie, Fred Evans, Simon Josebury, Suzanne Karakashian, Tom Louichon, Nick Land, Suhail Malik, Rob Maze, Ranu Mukherjee, Dan O’Hara, Sadie Plant, Maggie Roberts, Kurt Vildgren.
. Unasked– J.G Ballard, Georges Bataille, Greg Bear, Hakim Bey, Kathryn Bigelow, William Burroughs, Pat Cadigan, Mike Davies, Manual DeLanda, Maya Deren, Giles Deleuze, Marguerite Duras, Philip K. Dick, Mark Downham, William Gibson, Felix Guattari, Stanislau Lem, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Mike McGuire (juno reactor), Mute Magazine, Thomas Pynchon, Anne Rice, Serge (total eclipse), Stelarc, Neil Stephenson, Tsuyoshi Suzuki (prana), Unnatural Publications.

Having worked on the design for many of the Cabinet projects since its early formation, SecMoCo was pleased to have the opportunity to design, layout and produce– along with with Maggie Roberts, Suzanne Karakashian and Ranu Mukherjee– what has proven to be a highly prescient publication. Published in the same year as the hyper-stimulation of the second Virtual Futures conference (May 25–28, University of Warwick) it can be seen as an indicative marker of the creative and intellectual work going on in that particular historical moment – to theorise the political and cultural implications of the very dawning of a highly networked global information system and the human–digital relationship within it.

The publication has been subsequently reprinted by Cabinet. Here, below, is the information on this from the Cabinet website, where you can buy copies of the reprint and you can also find images of the exhibition/installation in 1995.

‘0(rphan)d(rift>) cyberpositive is an experimental sci fi novel, collectively authored by a group of asked and unasked contributors and edited by OD’s Maggie Roberts. It was published in 1995 with support from Nick Land and Cabinet Editions, serving as our manifesto and as the catalogue for the debut exhibition of the same name. It came together in the spirit of much of our visual work, bringing together processes of sampling and looping as well as the Burroughs cut up technique, referring to a breakdown and reordering of language from a post apocalyptic POV.’
http://www.orphandriftarchive.com

0(rphan)d(rift>) cyberpositive
1995
448pp. 13 x 20 cm
Published by Cabinet Editions / Openmute
Reissue 2012 and 2015
ISBN 13: 9781906496807
£15.00 (2019 reissue)
For orders please email art@cabinetltd.demon.co.uk

GLAM: THE PERFORMANCE OF STYLE. TATE Liverpool

SecMoCo were delighted to be approached by the judicious Darren Pih (Curator, Tate Liverpool) with the offer of a dream job – to design the catalogue to accompany the exhibition GLAM: The Performance Of Style (at Tate Liverpool, UK and later Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany). Through an ambitious collection of works and artefacts, it’s drive was to conceptually locate the early 1970’s glam pop style phenomenon in the context of the high /low cultural interchange within the artistic milieu of the time.

The design of the catalogue was an attempt to convey this shrewd engagement with the period whilst resisting the (admittedly very tempting) urge to indulge in the use of glitter, kitsch and overtly ‘bad-taste’ fonts. To revert to such a swift design short-hand would have been to do a disservice both to the the complexity of the creative activity of the time, and this contemporary re-appraisal of it. The design also included a detailed illustrated timeline of the art, culture and politics of the time.

First Published September 2013 by Tate Publishing, UK. Edited by Darren Pih; 215 x 255 mm; 192pp, thread sewn; 4-colour images throughout; 4-colour, 8 page soft cover (inc flaps)

Context from the Tate website:
GLAM: The Performance Of Style is the first book to fully examine the serious cultural influence of one of the twentieth century’s most excessive and exciting pop movements. ‘Glam’ emerged in the early 1970s and remains one of the most instantly recognisable but critically derided stylistic phenomena of twentieth century art and cultural history. Known mostly through the music of the era… the style was also evident in other art forms through its acquaintance with theatrics, artifice, myth and androgyny.

Covering a range of subjects including fashion, music, film, gender in performance and postmodernism, the book moves beyond a nostalgic reception and will reveal the under-acknowledged exchange between avant-garde art and the extravagant style, tracing the glam sensibility to performance and installation art, and to painting and sculpture’.

Context from Noddy Holder (Slade), reviewing the exhibition for The Guardian 20.02.13:
‘You can see Marc Bolan’s leather hat in a glass case. I couldn’t believe how small it was: I knew he was a small man, but this hat is really tiny’.

THE DARK MONARCH
TATE: exhibition, publication

For the exhibition The Dark Monarch at Tate St Ives, UK, SecMoCo were approached by Martin Clark, Artistic Director, to design the identity and external gallery signage, as well as the poster, preview card, print and digital advertising, and accompanying publication. The exhibition brought together over 160 works, as well as books, manuscripts and other ephemera, and the publication reflected this in its diverse range of material.

Publication: first edition published by Tate, UK, 2009; edited by Michael Bracewell, Martin Clark, and Alun Rowlands; additional texts: various; 230 x 172 mm; 216 pp; 74pp colour plate section (170gsm Maine Gloss), 50 b&w images in uncoated section (115gsm Think White) ; paperback 1-colour cover (Colourplan Vellum White 350gsm, wire embossed in the paper grain and spine orientation) with 8-page 2-colour dust jacket (China White 135gsm); section sewn. Printed by Calverts, London, UK.

From the press release: ‘Taking its title from the controversial 1962 novel based in St Ives by Sven Berlin, The Dark Monarch explores the influence of folklore, mysticism, mythology and the occult on the development of modernism and surrealism in Britain and features the works of both historic and contemporary artists. The book considers the renewed influence of neo-romantic and arcane themes on a significant strand of current British art practice’.

AQUATOPIA
Tate/Nottingham Contemporary

This publication accompanied the exhibition of the same name at Nottingham Contemporary and Tate St Ives. Working closely with Alex Farquarson (Director, Nottingham Contemporary) and Martin Clarke (Artistic Director, Tate St Ives) it was felt that the publication should be designed to function more as a ‘reader’ or compendium of textual and visual sources than a conventional exhibition catalogue. As such it includes a huge range of work from a diverse selection of contemporary and classic artists and writers.

First edition published by Tate, London, UK, 2013. Edited, and with a foreword/introduction by Martin Clarke and Alex Farquarson. Texts: Philip Hoare and Marina Warner; additional texts: various; 198 x 129 mm. 240pp; 4-colour images throughout; paperback, flapped cover

From the press release: ‘It occupies 72 per cent of the surface of our planet, yet the depths of our oceans are less known to us than the Solar System. The publication is a cross-disciplinary exploration of the aquatic imaginary, encompassing literature, maritime and cultural history, psychoanalysis, post-colonial and feminist theory, and including work from a diverse selection of artists and writers, both contemporary and classic masters.

PLATFORM
Identity: print

The development of the gallery identity for a contemporary art project space, and accompanying publications. As befitting the name of the space, the stationery, announcement cards and advertising employed the Johnston typeface and made reference to the London Underground signage and tube line colour scheme.

LITTLE PRIVATE GOVERNMENTS
Amanda Beech & Matthew Poole

SecMoCo were flattered to be approached by this grouping of cutting-edge contemporary theorists/artists to devise an identity relavent to the ideas informing their exhibition, catalogue and symposium Little Private Governments which examined the relationship of art to organizational systems and power (University Gallery Essex, 01 February 2006).

First published by University of the West of England, 2006; edited, and with a foreword by, Amanda Beech & Matthew Poole; texts by Suhail Malik and Roman Vasseur; 210 x 148 mm; 48 pp; 20 color images; softcover with 4-colour cover.

Accompanying 4-colour poster edition, incorporating design for the catalogue cover: 420 x 297mm.

Context, from the exhibition and symposium publicity:
Little Private Governments brings together emerging and established artists whose work demonstrates a long-term interest in the rhetoric of freedom and democracy. The exhibition includes works by Amanda Beech, Pil & Galia Kollectiv, Jenny Holzer, Martin Kippenberger, Jake and Dinos Chapman and Roman Vasseur. The accompanying catalogue includes commisioned new writing from three authors covering current debates on aesthetics and politics: a collaborative essay by Beech and Poole, and essays by Dr Suhail Malik and Roman Vasseur.

Jointly curated by Matthew Poole and Amanda Beech ‘Little Private Governments’ addresses the place of art within the structures of capitalism, democracy and idealism.

Links:
www.romanvasseur.com

SUMMER SEASON 2009
TATE St Ives

SecMoco were approached by Tate St Ives’ inspiring Artistic Director Martin Clark, to design a collection of seven artist’s monographs to accompany the exhibition ‘Summer Season 2009’ Tate St Ives, UK, published by Tate 2009.

First published in an edition of 1,500 copies, by Tate, UK, 2009; edited, and with a foreword by, Martin Clark; additional texts: various; 210 x 148 mm, 196pp, 4-colour images throughout; 7x thread-sewn booklets within 1-colour printed slipcase.

From www.specificobject.com: ‘Boxed-set of seven exhibition catalogues published in conjunction with the exhibition held May 16 – September 27, 2009. Each catalogue is devoted to the individual work of each of the following artists: Alfred Wallis, Lucie Rie, Barbara Hepworth, Lawrence Weiner, Carol Bove, Bojan Sarcevic and Katy Moran. Texts by Sara Hughes on Katy Moran; Melissa Gronlund on Bojan Sarcevic; Martin Herbert on Carol Bove; Herbert Read and Edwin Mullins on Barbara Hepworth; Emmanuel Cooper on Lucie Rie; and Billy Childish on Alfred Wallis. Each catalogue includes black-and-white and color illustrations’.