The Improbable City Book

The Improbable City

Published by Edinburgh Art Festival, 2015

Edited by Sorcha Carey and Emily Gray

Designed by James Brook

ISBN 978 0 9929909 1 6

48 pages with soft cover with pockets front and back containing a set of 8 postcards
Book size 210 x 165 mm; postcard size 105 x 148 mm
Printed by Allander, Edinburgh, on Cocoon Preprint 100% recycled paper with Colorplan smoke grey cover; postcards printed on Cocoon Offset 350gsm

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The Improbable City is the second book that I have designed for the Edinburgh Art Festival. The book accompanied a programme of commissions that 'celebrate the work of visual artists who vividly conjure alternative imaginary worlds through their work, and considers how it is often the improbable which illuminates the real'. The programme included work by leading and emerging Scottish practitioners and includes new work by three international artists showing in the UK for the first time. The Improbable City ran from 30 July – 30 August 2015.

The set of postcards was an attempt to include last-minute images of the installations that were being created specially for the Art Festival and that were still being made when the book had to go to print to meet the deadline of the opening of 29 July; as the postcards had a shorter production time we hoped to include images of the finished installations that were not ready in time for the book. The postcards slot in to pockets on the front and back cover, strengthening the idea of a book as a guide for visitors to 'The Improbable City'.

There are eight postcards in the set with work by the seven artists featured in the exhibition – Charles Avery, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Julie Favreau, Emma Finn, Ariel Guzik, Kemang Wa Lehulere, and Hanna Tuulikki – as well as an eighth postcard by Neil Mulholland, which features a text written in response to Marvin Gaye Chetwynd's work.

The 'map' of Edinburgh on the cover is by Hanna Tuulikki; rather than running the map over the spine, I ran the map over the fore-edge of the book, cutting it in two. I had fun using a glyph of a pointing hand to further emphasise the feeling of a guide book or travel guide; I later learned that this symbol is known as a 'manicule' (from the Latin root manus for "hand" and manicula for "little hand") or fist.

Platform Leaflet

This is the leaflet and logo I designed for Platform: 2015, a new Edinburgh Art Festival initiative 'intended to showcase Scottish artists at the early stages of their career'. Four artists – Antonia Bañados, Ben Callaghan, Ross Hamilton Frew, and Jessica Ramm – were selected from an open call by artists Christine Borland and Craig Coulthard working with Edinburgh Art Festival Director, Sorcha Carey and curator Emily Gray.

Today is the final day of the Edinburgh Art Festival and your last chance to see Platform: 2015, the exhibition can be found at the Festival Kiosk, 9-11 Blair Street, Edinburgh EH1 1QR. Catch it while you can!

More information can be found here.

'The Improbable City' book – with postcards!

It's the last week of the Edinburgh Art Festival and I've finally got round to photographing the book – with the postcards in place in the flaps on the cover – that I designed to accompany The Improbable City, this year's EAF commissions programme. The Improbable City 'celebrates the work of visual artists who vividly conjure alternative imaginary worlds through their work, and considers how it is often the improbable which illuminates the real'. The programme includes work by leading and emerging Scottish practitioners and includes new work by three international artists showing in the UK for the first time. The seven artists in the exhibition are Charles Avery, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Julie Favreau, Emma Finn, Ariel Guzik, Kemang Wa Lehulere, and Hanna Tuulikki. The Improbable City closes on 30 August 2015 – make haste and visit it while you can!

More details here.

Platform Logo

This is a logo I designed for Platform: 2015, a new Edinburgh Art Festival initiative 'intended to showcase Scottish artists at the early stages of their career'. Four artists – Antonia Bañados, Ben Callaghan, Ross Hamilton Frew, and Jessica Ramm – have been selected from an open call by artists Christine Borland and Craig Coulthard working with Edinburgh Art Festival Director, Sorcha Carey and curator Emily Gray. The exhibition can be found at the Festival Kiosk, 9-11 Blair Street, Edinburgh EH1 1QR, until 30 August 2015.

More information can be found here.

Postcards from 'The Improbable City' printed!

The 'Postcards from the Improbable City', which accompany the book that I designed for the Edinburgh Art Festival, have been printed, and are available from the Edinburgh Art Festival Kiosk, 9-11 Blair Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QR.

The postcards are slotted in to pockets on the inside cover of the book, strengthening the idea of a book as a guide for visitors to 'The Improbable City'. There are eight postcards in the set with work by the seven artists featured in the exhibition - Charles Avery, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Julie Favreau, Emma Finn, Ariel Guzik, Kemang Wa Lehulere, and Hanna Tuulikki - as well as an eighth postcard by Neil Mulholland, which features a text written in response to Marvin Gaye Chetwynd's work.

Photos of the book coming soon!