Two Thoughts – Svenja Deininger / Collezione Maramotti & Silvana Editoriale

Two Thoughts – book catalogue for Svenja Deininger's exhibition held at Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Two Thoughts brings together a series of new paintings by Svenja Deininger especially conceived for the gallery space and four works from the 1920s by Polish avant-garde painter Władysław Strzemiński. The structure of the book unfolds a controlled narrative of written and visual material. Deininger’s artworks in the first half and Strzemiński's Architectural Compositions in the second are padded with essays by Luigi Fassi and Paulina Kurc-Maj, both in English and Italian. This interplay between essays and artworks gives the book a distinctive visual rhythm. An alternate switch between off-white uncoated paper for the essays and white coated paper for the title pages and the artworks, emphasises the book structure with a textural play. Deininger's work is presented on a sequence of pages, whilst Strzemiński's is revealed in a gatefold, referencing the artworks' view in the exhibition space. Strzemiński's work is accompanied by extracts from his writing delivered through tipped-in short-pages retaining the typesetting features and graphic interventions of his original text. Playing homage to the artists' compositions, colour is central to the book design; from different coloured foil on the cover, endpapers, head and tail bands, to larger interventions of double spread colour pairings which are scattered throughout, inviting moments of pause and surprise. The choice of the serif was informed by the rounder forms seen in Deininger's paintings as well as her use of softer hues. Designed with Sateen Panagiotopoulou