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[INDIE PRESS IN BALKANS / RISOGRAPHY] Optically suspicious: On the life, work, and leisure time of graphic workers then and now, research into the archival materials related to the Union of Graphic and Typographic Workers of Yugoslavia. Edited by Milica Ivi?. Preface by Ratibor Trivunac.
Published by
Museum of Yugoslavia / Autonomous Cultural Centre Matrijarsija / KIZ Baraba / Rab-Rab Press, Beograd (Belgrade), 2025
ISBN 10: 9526564618
ISBN 13: 9789526564616
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Khalkedon Rare Books ABA, ILAB, IOBA, ESA, Istanbul, Turkey
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Dust jacket. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Original publisher's gilt-stamped red cloth. 12mo. (14 x 10,5 cm). In English. [143] p., richly illustrated throughout in colour and b/w. One of only 600 copies. An uncommon risograph book on the left-wing union of typographers and printers active in Yugoslavia in the 1920s and 30s. Documenting one of the most original archival investigations into the visual culture of Yugoslav labour organisations, this well-designed book is based on more than 1,000 surviving printed artefacts preserved in the Printed Material Collection of the Museum of Yugoslavia, the publication reconstructs the cultural, artistic and social activities of the Union of Graphic and Typographic Workers of Yugoslavia from the interwar period through socialist Yugoslavia. Rather than concentrating on labour history alone, the catalogue explores how graphic workers used their professional skills to create posters, flyers, programmes, photographs, photomontages, illustrations and experimental printed matter, revealing an unexpectedly rich world of concerts, theatre performances, sporting events, chess clubs, Esperanto meetings, workers' celebrations and artistic collaborations. The editors also discuss the destruction of the Union's own archive during the 2012 flood in Belgrade, making the surviving printed ephemera preserved by the Museum an irreplaceable primary source. The exhibition?and consequently this publication?takes its title from the striking screen-printed image "Optically Suspicious" by Milica Ivi?. The geometric emblem reproduced on the binding deliberately resembles an abstract typographic sign, yet upon closer inspection it simultaneously evokes a human figure operating a traditional letterpress printing press. This visual ambiguity encapsulates the entire research project: ordinary printed ephemera, initially appearing as anonymous utilitarian objects, reveal hidden narratives about workers' lives, political tensions, artistic experimentation and collective self-organisation when examined more carefully. The title therefore refers not to distrust, but to the necessity of looking beyond first impressions -remaining "optically suspicious" toward archival material in order to uncover overlooked histories embedded within graphic design and everyday printing. Besides the introductory essays, the volume reproduces a remarkable corpus of original material, including early union posters, typographic specimens, graphic design, political and cultural announcements, photomontages, documentary photographs, illustrations, workers' publications and archival documents, many published here for the first time. As both an exhibition catalogue and an original contribution to the study of Yugoslav graphic design, labour culture and twentieth-century visual communication, Optically Suspicious constitutes an important reference work for historians of design, avant-garde print culture, typography, ephemera, workers' movements and the material history of printing in Southeast Europe. Seller Inventory # 056511