This book is the result of an exemplary cooperation between an established designer and an up-and-coming artist. All aspects of the work are represented. Even though the attitude as a whole clearly exudes anti-aestheticism – and in the opinion of one jury member more resembles an item of stationery than a book – the way the book has been made clearly has an aesthetic.

The layout demonstrates an active approach and the typography reflects the early stage of the artist’s oeuvre, while at the same time promotes this through its legibility. Few concessions seem to have been made. The approach to illustration is playful, with here and there jottings as a nod from the artist. The fibrous EOS and smooth Arctic Volume have been so sharply selected that they do not even stand out as being very different paper types. The images continue to form a visual unity on both, in spite of very different treatments.

The inclusion of an endnote number on page 1 actively plays with the ‘facets’ of a book. Another such nice idea is the colour on the edges of the block. Something we have seen more than once in recent years, but superbly executed here. An extremely clever idea by the designer to have the artist paint the entire surface of a dummy book and then scan this, making the resulting work an immediate, indivisible part of the book design, which in turn does justice to the oeuvre of an artist seeking to break with the tradition of painting to produce only a two-dimensional result.