5 x 5 = 25 exhibition catalogue - complete
The pattern
This still is filed under Typographic cover frame.
Define
A stable type frame (masthead, rules, folio) that stays put so the image inside can change every issue.
Mechanism
Fixed architecture. Recognition lives in the frame. News lives in the picture. The two jobs stay separate.
Verdict
We publish on a fixed schedule and need instant recognition plus a new image every time.
Why it works
The catalogue proves its own argument by construction. It refuses printing, reproduction and craft finish, so the object cannot be mistaken for the precious unique thing the statements say is dead, and it also cannot be mass produced, which puts the reader in the same bind the artists are arguing about. Numbering the works as experiments toward construction reframes what the viewer is looking at before they look at it - the frame is set in the catalogue, not on the wall. And the crossed-out cover is the cheapest possible way to say the thing the whole show is saying: a deletion mark used as a title page.
Steal this when
You are announcing a break rather than selling a product, and the medium can be made to enact the claim - deliberately unfinished, hand-made or unreproducible materials when the message is that the polished version is over.
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