Countering the frenzy of Milan Design Week, the LESS NOISE talks, co-curated with Berlin based bookstore do you read me?! in collaboration with MSGM, sought to carve out a space for slower, more conscious reflection. At a time of real and unreal narrators, the talks focus on pivotal projects and the potency of publishing, through intersectional conversations with designers, publishers, authors and editors.
Listen to the episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Safe to say: the internet did not kill the book. We have seen the world transformed by digital media, yet the printed word retains appeal and connotes ideas of enduring importance. But who gets to put themselves out there, and how? In this discussion we focus on strategies to maintain creative agency and independence in publishing.
Read selected excerpts from our speakers: "Drawing Territory: How Do We Represent the Territory?", by Laila Seewang, from "transcalar prospects in climate crisis" (Lars Müller Publishers, 2024); "In the Soup: the pan-Asian patchwork of Peranakan Laksa", by Anna Sulan Masing, from “Penang” (Apartamento, 2024).
Physical appeal — through materiality and aesthetic — is an undeniable factor for print publications. If ‘content’ can be said to proliferate online, the value of print resides in tangible experience. From fashion and architecture to graphic design: what happens when design capabilities are translated? This discussion considers the aesthetics of printed matter as the expression of appeal and stance.
Read selected excerpts from our speakers: "Trash Fashion! Elise By Olsen on ephemeral messaging", by Elise By Olsen; "Pointing Fingers and a Helping Hand", by Jonah Coe-Scharff, Chase Galis, Sonia Sobrino Ralston, from "Cover Cover Cover" (Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Konig, 2024); "Table Settings: the thingness of things", by Issey Gladston, from COSE Journal, Issue 1.
How might publications seek to disrupt? What does this mean for their form, content and placement? Publications that aim to disrupt take multiple forms, transferring knowledge from one field to another or approaching translation as a research method; troubling the bounds of patriarchy, or decolonising a canon. This discussion draws from designers and works that challenge systemic or normative expectations.
Read selected excerpts from our speakers: "New! Writing! Now!", by Federico Sargentone, from "MIDCAREER WRITING" (Sorry Press, 2024); "Design and the Superstorm", by Noemi Biasetton, from "Superstorm. Design and Politics in the Age of Information" (Onomatopee, 2024).
