What is Z/X? What is its history and mission?
Z/X is a visual arts publication established in 2004 at Manukau School of Visual Arts, a South Auckland art school in New Zealand, with the aim to serve as a vehicle for a wider engagement with art practice and writing. MSVA came into existence in the early 90s, and for a time held a collection of photocopied articles and critical texts used for teaching purposes. The ‘covert’ nature of this repository led to it being called the ‘ZX files’ (the art school was located in Z block of the institution). The adoption of Z/X as a title for the journal established a subtle relationship to the school, but also to one of the editors favorites, Roland Barthes’ S/Z.

What is your role in Z/X? How were you introduced to the project, and what are your motivations behind working on it?
The editors, Paul Cullen and Grant Thompson, invited me to design issues three and four of the publication. Having established a format and philosophy for the first two issues, they wanted to strengthen the distribution and identity of the journal by placing emphasis on its design. My brief was to develop an identity independent of the art school, one where design was exemplary alongside the content and where the design for each issue would change in response to content or themes. Obviously a big motivation for my wanting to work on the project was that I was given a lot of creative autonomy.

How does Z/X shift in content from issue to issue? And, how do you address this shift?
The editors determine the theme for each issue, and there is an open call for contributions. Issues so far have included: ‘Local’, ‘Under Construction’, ‘Landscape’, and ‘Situations’. The theme provided a broad framework for my approach, but the design is ultimately driven by content and of course budgetary constraints (a very small budget!). The two issues I designed vary considerably in terms of content; #3 contains a preponderance of footnoted essays and photographs, and #4 is a lot more eclectic with a wide variety of artist contributions (both image and textual), academic essays with and without footnotes, photographs and drawings, as well as a DVD of sound works. Issue #3 ‘Landscape’ (illustrated below) is simple in terms of design, the majority of the book is black and white on uncoated stock (essays and illustrations), and is interspersed by two colour image sections on coated stock. A gatefold cover allows a panoramic landscape image to wrap from the inside front cover to the inside back cover. I actually designed this issue while working at the Walker Art Center, so basically it all happened in the very early hours of the morning due my heavy workload at WAC!

Issue #4 (illustrated below) is 96 pages (Z/X #3 was 64) and was designed in New Zealand, which was a lot easier than working with a local New Zealand printer while I was living in Minneapolis. In response to the theme ’situations’, my initial idea was that the signatures would be rotated during the binding process, resulting in a variety of versions of the publication. I initially liked the idea that individual contributions could potentially be displaced or split, so for example, the end of an essay might appear first, and the rest later on in the book, the contents page last, or the cover in the middle (to name the most obvious). This turned out to be too difficult to achieve, I couldn’t find a printer who would do it for a reasonable price, and because the content was so diverse it resulted in too much confusion. Instead, I used a gradient which worked in a similar way. Created on press using a split fountain technique, the green to blue gradient spread across the entire press sheet — when folded into the signature form there is a subtle movement of colour from page to page. One of the artist contributions works in a similar way with a series of drawings developed to fit the press sheet size — once folded to form the publication, the drawings become fragmented and split across a number of pages. In the end however, the gradient and shift in colour works more to create an atmosphere rather than a direct relationship with the theme ’situations’. The typeface Bryant used throughout the book works in similar way. Designed by Eric Olsen of Process Type Foundry, Bryant is modeled around the Wrico lettering kits used by draftsmen and amateur sign makers in the 1960s and 1970s. I chose the type more for its temporal relationship with situationism and conceptual art, where much of the work discussed in the issue has its origins. I also liked the connection with mapmaking or signage, the relationship or connection with the theme is therefore very loose.

The logotype you developed for issues #3 and #4 is quite striking … what typeface did you use, who made it, and what are its origins?
The typeface is Ta Tiki regular, designed in 1999 by the New Zealand type designer Joseph Churchward. David Bennewith, formerly a peer at the Werkplaats Typografie in Arnhem, was working on a research project into Churchward type at the time I began working on issue #3. Ta Tiki developed out of Churchward’s Maori alphabets, and is inspired by hei tiki motifs.

Initially I had planed to use the typeface Churchward Maori, which draws on the koru motif commonly used in traditional Maori art forms. This association with place was appropriate to the landscape theme of issue #3, however owing to the typeface not being digitized and available for purchase, I used Ta Tiki instead. Ta Tiki similarly has a connection to the landscape since hei tiki are traditionally carved from New Zealand pounamu (jade). Ultimately, due to the distinctive and unusual nature of the typeface, I restricted its use to a logotype on the front cover. I tried to integrate Ta Tiki into the book, but found it extremely difficult to use and make legible (made more difficult by the fact it is only available as uppercase). In an attempt to strengthen the sense of identity and continuity between issues #3 and #4, I decided to use the logotype again in #4 on the back cover. I don’t think I would do this for a subsequent issue however, the nature of Z/X is that its form and identity should be fluid and open for discussion, so potentially the format could be completely different from issue to issue.

Where can issues of Z/X be found or purchased from?
Z/X is currently published by the Art School Press, which has limited distribution, so unfortunately it is only available for purchase from selected bookstores in New Zealand (copies can be ordered from Parsons Bookshop). It will be available during the Melbourne Art Fair as part of the South Project Reading Room, 30 July — 3 August, which will show a selection of independent art journals and artist-made publications from around the Southern Hemisphere.

And as for Z/X #5?
Recently the administrative structure at MSVA changed, so whether Z/X continues or not is currently an open question.

Fig. 1: Insights 2008, designed by Ryan Nelson and Vance Wellenstein; Fig. 2: Insights 2007, designed by Jayme Yen; Fig. 3: Insights 2006, designed by Scott Ponik Fig. 4: Insights 2005, designed by Chad Kloepfer; Fig. 5: Insights 2005, designed by Emmet Byrne and Silas Munro; Fig. 6: Insights 2003, designed by Kyle Blue, photography by Chad Kloepfer; Fig. 7: Summer Design Series 2004, designed by Alex DeArmond Fig. 8: Summer Design Series 2002, designed by Linda Byrne and Alex DeArmond

WE ARE: HARDLAND/HEARTLAND
This is a loose facade, a fictional reality. The guise of our creative freedom — a p***a********** vision from the Midwest. The work created is biographical fantasy. We look through this lens, and it makes sense. To us. We’re Live! Broadcasting to you the end of the beginning in Hi-Quad-Defined-Large-Antiquated-Definiton. It should already be just inside your brain. Don’t you see? These are short bursts of information. British Television Advertisements — You love them.

Tired & True. Blech.

WE CAME FROM:
The map between the mountains — mostly coastless. Graveled roads and gangster rap cassette tapes in suede skate shoes. Trials, tribulations and trouble. They made numerous movies about where we came from. Pre-Internettal Youth. Mickey Mouse was huge.

WE DO:
We make things. Total creationists. This all started with drawings, lines were made to be finished by another. We have called it facilitated collaboration from time to time, but we try to not be boring. We try to have fun. Your resulting experience should be most pleasurable and at times quite confusing: We have tried our best to embellish and imbue these narrative explosions with meaning. Sometimes we do not.

WE WANT:
The (B)est (T)imes (O)f (O)ur (L)ives (E)ver. SRSLY. The Organ House forever ending.

There is a “we” — did you know this?
We are trying to take you there.

Self-interview commissioned by the Walker Art Center Design Blog.

The event is in conjunction with an artist lecture by Chris Johanson and Jo Jackson at the Walker on Thursday May 1st, and with their exhibition Conclusions on Boundaries at the ART OF THIS GALLERY opening May 3rd. This nostalgic, yet contemporary film celebrates a cultural movement rooted in a DIY aesthetic that documents a bi-coastal group of like-minded artists who found common ground in New York City during the early 1990’s. Featuring interviews with Ed Templeton, Barry McGee, Mike Mills, Jo Jackson, Chris Johanson, Stephen Powers and the always inspiring Harmony Korine among many others, I was also pleasantly surprised by the amount of amazing footage from the late Margaret Kilgallen.

There will be two screenings on May 2: one at 7:00 pm and one at 9:30 pm.
Also, there is a Q&A with director Aaron Rose following the first screening.
Further details and ticket information can be found on the Walker Calendar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyRAHKTy6hI

Fellows are employed full-time for one year and are assigned a wide range of graphic design projects from developing graphic identities for specific programs and exhibitions, including the design of all related collateral materials, to assisting the design director and other designers with long-term projects such as exhibition catalogues and promotional campaigns. Fellows are involved in all aspects of the design process, including client meetings and presentations through production and supervision of printing (a small sampling of projects executed by Walker Design Fellows between the years 1999 and 2008 are pictured above).

How to apply
Please submit a letter of interest, a résumé with the names and contact information of three references, a portfolio containing 8–10 examples of graphic design work, and a self-addressed, stamped envelope for the return of your portfolio (if desired) to:

Design Department
Walker Art Center
1750 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403

2008/2009 Fellowship deadline: June 9, 2008
All candidates will be notified of their application status by July 31. No phone calls please.

For more information please visit the Design Fellowship page on the Walker Art Center Design website here.

Week three of Insights features New York based Project Projects on Tuesday, March 18, at 7 pm in the Walker cinema. Tickets are available here.

Before joining forces to form Project Projects in 2004, Adam Michaels, a Minneapolis College of Art and Design graduate, was associate art director of Architecture magazine; and Prem Krishnamurthy, a Yale University graduate, had completed a Fulbright Fellowship and worked as a designer in Berlin and New York. The two forged a cool, calm, and collected aesthetic that resonates with their nonprofit and cultural sector clientele. Project Projects has emerged as a leading design studio working for such organizations as Artists Space, Creative Time, Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, Metropolis magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Princeton Architectural Press, the Van Alen Institute, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Their work has been featured in Japan’s most progressive graphic design magazine, IDEA, as one of 100 of the world’s most interesting studio practices, and identified by the Art Directors Club of New York and Print magazine as a new design firm to watch.

In anticipation for Tuesday’s lecture, both Adam and Prem were kind enough to answer a few of life's most--and possibly least--pressing questions:

Adam Michaels:
1. What have you been obsessing about?
This photograph:

Depicting the Swedish psychedelic rock band Träd, Gräs och Stenar on tour in Stockholm in 1971. Talk about hybrid modernities…

2. What’s your most prized possession?
One strong contender would be this painting:

Which I purchased directly from its maker, John Fahey, for $5 on May 23, 1998. That evening, he performed an experimental electric guitar set at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple in Oak Park, IL, making for a stunning amalgamation of eccentric American genius. Fahey dressed for the occasion in red sweat shorts, a ragged red t-shirt, and massive red and white hi-tops.

3. What are you reading?
I just finished Enter Naomi by Joe Carducci, a fragmented but worthwhile first-person account of the early- to mid-period of SST records. Otherwise, I’m a big fan of Owen Hatherley’s two blogs, Sit down man, you’re a bloody tragedy and The Measures Taken.

4. What’s one of your guilty pleasures?
Excessive time spent at the studio (such as right now, for example)

5. What do you consider the most overrated virtue
Is versatility considered a virtue?

6. What is one of the most unexpected influences on your design?
I must admit I’m struggling to separate the unexpected from the expected here…

7. What were you doing before you responded to this questionnaire?
Typesetting

8. What question do you wish we’d asked you?
How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

…

Prem Krishnamurthy:
1. What have you been obsessing about?
Klaus Wittkugel (1910-1985), an under-recognized East German designer

2. What’s your most prized possession?
My Leica M6.

3. What are you reading?
The Forger by Cioma Schonhaus and Alan Bance; Searching for Sebald: Photography after W.G. Sebald

4. What’s one of your guilty pleasures?
Madonna

5. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Reserve

6. What is one of the most unexpected influences on your design?
H.P. Lovecraft

7. What were you doing before you responded to this questionnaire?
Teaching someone how to make Photoshop masks to color-correct photographs

8. What question do you wish we’d asked you?
What book do I wish I had never read?

2001 / 02

2002 / 03

2003 / 04

2004 / 05

2005 / 06

2006 / 07

2007 / 08


…
2001 / 02 designed by Santiago Piedrafita
2002 / 03 designed by Linda Byrne
2003 / 04 designed by Chad Kloepfer
2004 / 05 designed by Chad Kloepfer
2005 / 06 designed by Matt Rezac
2006 / 07 designed by Emmet Byrne
2007 / 08 designed by Layla Tweedie-Cullen