Peter Rosei, Unser Landschaftsbericht
Our landscape report was another collaboration with Ines von Ketelhodt. The title came from a text by Peter Rosei, which we printed in its entirety on original black-and-white photographs by Ines. First we had to make all of the original photographic prints for the edition. There were 22 pictures per copy, about 1,500 in total. Our bathroom was constantly blocked off, and there were pictures hanging up to dry everywhere. The photos showed body parts of naked women and men, barely recognizable as such because of the way the images were cropped. They are more reminiscent of hilly landscapes; lined up alongside one another, they do actually create a landscape that extends throughout the whole accordion book. The accordion has one light side and one dark side. The dark side consists of positive prints of the photos, and the light side of contact prints of the positives. Thus the light-colored photographs are negatives. In fact, the two sides look like day and night shots. We had decided to do this because there are also day and night images in Rosei’s text. I inserted letterpress figures into the imaginary landscape (printed with polymer plates, brass rules and various type materials), some of them acting as signs within the landscape, sometimes simply showing the page number, but also creating figurative elements. They are not always visible at first glance on the dark pages, since they are letterpress printed in black onto the dark photo paper. But when the pages are turned slightly so that the light falls on them from a different angle, the shiny shapes are clearly visible.
44 pages, photographic prints on Agfa paper, hand-set, letterpress printed, accordion, 20,7 x 29 cm,
60 numbered and signed copies. Oberursel & Lahnstein 1996.