つなぐモノ語り / Tsunagu Mono Gatari / Verbindungsstücke

Izumo & Ulrich
2022

Unboxing “Tsunagu Mono Gatari / Verbindungsstücke”Art direction: Ferdinand Ulrich & Toshiya IzumoCinematography: Norman Posselt, Berlin
The Japanese front cover of Tsunagu Mono Gatari. Titling face is TienMin Liao’s Ribaasu, printed letterpress in two colors.Photograph by Norman Posselt, Berlin
An artist card, typeset in Akira Kataoka’s Marumin Katura and in Alessio D’Ellena’s Laica, symbols in TienMin Liao’s Ribaasu.Photograph by Norman Posselt, Berlin
A German double-spread in the 60-page brochure. Text is typeset in Alessio D’Ellena’s Laica, page numbers in TienMin Liao’s Ribaasu.Photograph by Norman Posselt, Berlin
The bilingual ensemble of two wrappers, 73 artist cards and a 60-page brochure of essays on Japanese-German cultural exchange.Photograph by Norman Posselt, Berlin

On the occasion of the ten-year anniversary of its artist residency program at Villa Kamogawa, the Goethe Institute Kyoto invited former residents to submit “connecting pieces” (Japanese: tsunagu mono gatari, German: Verbindungsstücke) of Japanese-German cultural exchange for an exhibition and a bilingual catalog.

Its multi-script typography by Toshiya Izumo and Ferdinand Ulrich is centered around a playful, unconventional approach to the different reading directions: from top to bottom, left to right, and vice versa. 73 artist cards and a 60-page brochure of essays are held together by two wrappers, printed letterpress on an Original Heidelberg Cylinder in the titling face Ribaasu, a connecting element between the languages.

art director, typographer
Ferdinand Ulrich
art director, typographer
Toshiya Izumo
photo editor, producer
Daniel Klotz
color advisor
Nari Haase
curator
Michael Hirschbichler
photographer
Kazuo Fukunaga
photographer
Yukie Beheim
publisher
Wasmuth & Zohlen
client
Goethe Institute Kyoto
Project link

Judges Choice: Ben Blount

Honorable Mention