Ruth Ewan: Sympathetic Magick
Designed by James Brook for Edinburgh Art Festival, 2018
Booklet | 125 x 85mm | 32 pages plus cover
Printed by Allander, Edinburgh, on Cocoon Pre-print 100% Recycled 100gsm
This is a booklet that I designed for Sympathetic Magick, Ruth Ewan’s project for the 2018 Edinburgh Art Festival which used the ancient art of street performance to bring magic onto the streets of Edinburgh. Visitors encountered magical experiences such as ‘The Class Struggle Rope Trick’ and other political magic tricks developed during Ruth’s project, around the city, as part of streets performances on the High Street and in other venues. The booklet includes contextual material from Ruth’s research alongside information on all the magicians and performers, as well as a timetable of events and performances.
The full colour cover includes a detail of a toy diorama made in Britain by J C Clark about 1825, from the collection of City of Edinburgh Council at the Museum of Childhood. The booklet is typeset in Minion Pro, Rosewood and Heavitas and, like the majority of Ruth’s printed material, is printed in two colours on the text pages. Ruth had originally suggested that all the images should be printed in blue: I felt that Karl Marx would be much happier printed in red so he is the exception. The booklet is the same proportion as – and just a little larger than – a magician's playing card; it has rounded corners to further push this magical connection.
