Black Matter Editions

posted by Amber Weaver January 19, 2018

We’re always on the hunt for fresh projects to stick our noses in. Most recently we came across the work of Dominik Schwarz and Dr. Björn Vedder, who’s publishing house entitled Black Matter Editions caught the eye of our People of Print team. We interviewed these guys to find out a little more of what they do.

Peope of Print: Hey guys, so could you kindly tell us what is Black Matter Editions? How does it work? Do you work with different artists for example?

Black Matter Editions is an independent publisher focused on contemporary design and fine arts founded in 2016. We publish artist books and limited edition prints e. g. ‘Es ist O.k.’ Mama“ (It is o.k. mum) by Hamburg-based illustrator Büro Klass combining pictures of Sigmund Freud and the Rorschach Test or ‘Fotoskizzen’ by sculptor Florian Lechner, which was printed at our own Risograph-workshop.

Once a year we publish a variety of riso-printed calendars each printed with puns combining cheese and movies, meat and music like Pulp Stilton or Stew Fighters. Furthermore in 2018, we curated a group exhibition called Dirty Glitches involving the live-printing of a a print edition and we’re planning an open call to start the International Archive of Ornaments, which may become a print-collection of patterns from all over the world.

P: Awesome! Do you have an aim? What would you like to achieve?

We apsire to make artistic positions accessible and available to the broader public. In book- design, we don’t only build a stage for art, but develop a visual language that reflects the special character of each individuals work of art. For that reason we explore the artistic position and the creative process of the artist, illustrating it to the reader. The text infatuated art books usually contain content written from quite an elitarian point of view with a pure art historical focus. The texts we publish set the artistic positions in relation to our everyday lives: What is the world like and how do we want to live. We want to start this dialogue.

P: What is your process? Is there a particular theme?

We’re in continuous dialogue with our artists: from the choice of single works, the rhythm of the book to the development of a specific design. One example is the book ‘Ein Element in Erwartung seiner Vollendung’ by sculptor Florian Ecker. Ecker’s art is the result of an exploratory curiousness, in which he arranges different elements or techniques in an experimental set-up and examines them with scrupulous precision. Therefore the book we designed looks like a scientific journal with different chapters.

From punchy colour palettes with graphic illustrations in the form of risograph calenders to for refined, sophistacted tones found in their publications, Black Matters Editions is certainly a gem of a find.