Book Arsenal Festival determined the 14 winners of «Best Book Design Contest 2022»in five categories such as text book, visual book, kids book, utility book and experiment. This was the seventh time the contest has been held, and the jury received a total of 142 entries
«Visual book»
«Fountain of Exhaustion. Acqua Alta». Author: Pavlov Makov. Published by ist publishing. Visual design: 3Z Studio (Kharkiv/Kyiv).
The publication was created especially for the National Pavilion of Ukraine at the 59th Venice Biennale. The book relates the history, the different contexts, and the varying interpretations of Makov’s work Fountain of Exhaustion. The 2022 Arsenale di Venezia exhibition is the first time Fountain of Exhaustion has ever been displayed as a fully-functional art object with a steady water supply, even though it was conceived by the artist in Kharkiv back in 1995.
The book features a comprehensive chronological account of the Fountain’s development in the years 1995—2022 as well as a careful selection of archive materials, illustrating the work’s evolution over the last 25 years. It also provides additional textual commentary by various authors, exploring Makov’s artistic practices and the spatio-temporal connotations of «Fountain of Exhaustion» as an art object all the while reflecting on water, rivers, and channels, overflow and desolation, personally landscapes and the pressing global issues of the day.
«Ilovaisk. 2014». Authors: Oleksandr Hliadielov, Maksym Dondiuk, Maksym Levin, Markiian Lyseiko. Published by «Blank Press». Visual design: Kateryna Bolshakova.
The book records the events of the battles for Ilovaisk, in particular the first assault of Ilovaisk on August 10, 2014, the advance of the «Donbas» battalion to the village of Osykovo on August 14, the fighting and the circumstances of Ukrainian forces in Ilovaisk on August 17 – 29 (the mopping up of the village of Hrabske, the entrance to Ilovaisk) in the city, the attempt to break through the encirclement).
«The Cult and Image of Onuphrius the Great». Author: Rostyslav Zabashta. Published by «RODOVID». Visual design: Aliona Solomadina.
This full-color monograph by scholar Rostyslav Zabashta is dedicated to the image of Onuphrius the Great — an early Christian ascetic hermit, one of the most revered saints.
At the center of the author’s attention is the reason for the expansion and rise of his cult in Ukrainian lands and the particularities of the iconographic representation of his image.
«Text book»
«Camera Lucida. Reflections on Photography». Author: Roland Barthes. Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography. Visual design: Nadiia Kelm, Olga Zhuk.
A textbook study by the French philosopher Roland Barthes. It is one of the most famous texts about photography, first translated into Ukrainian.
Camera Lucida is the last book in Barthes’ legacy, published a few months before his death. This brief study is both an exploration of the nature of the photographic medium and a personal reflection on the death of his mother, whose image he tries to find in her childhood photo.
The emotional tension with which Barthes mourns the passing of a loved one transforms the cultural analysis of photography into a phenomenological one: according to Barthes, photography is asymbolic, extra-semiotic and capable of affecting the emotions and the body, bypassing rational analysis.
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«God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater». Author: Kurt Vonnegut. Published by the «Babylon Library» publishing. Illustrators: Mariia Havrysh and Volodymyr Havrysh. Design and layout: Volodymyr Havrysh. Publication concept and afterword: Mariia Havrysh and Volodymyr Havrysh. Art director: Roman Malynovskyi.
The book is about the shenanigans of multimillionaire Eliot Rosewater, who returns from New York to his hometown in Indiana. There he prepares an unexpected experiment; he wants to give away all his money to random people who come to his office. Vonnegut’s regular and beloved character, fiction writer Kilgore Trout, makes his first appearance in this text.
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«Conversations on Architecture». Authors: Bohdan Volynskyi, Oleh Drozdov. Published by ist publishing. Visual design: Uliana Bychenkova.
The book was written by the architect Bohdan Volynskyi during a series of meetings with the architect Oleh Drozdov.
Under the yellow cover resembling the light outline of the window, Drozdov talks about a house with a garden and urban space, terrain and light, sacred and profane, flesh and weather, market, politics and architectural competitions, professional community and education.
The issues discussed by the two summarize the first twenty years of Drozdov’s architectural practice. This is also an attempt to talk about topics that are gaining importance in the architects’ practices and architecture as it is today.
«Kids book»
«The Yellow Butterfly». Author: Oleksandr Shatokhin. Published by the «Old Lion Publishing» House. Visual design: Oleksandr Shatokhin.
«The Yellow Butterfly» by illustrator Oleksandr Shatokhin is a «silent book» about life after a devastating war.
The barbed wire at the beginning with the spider is an image of limitations and restraints and the fear that war gives. War, like a barbed wire, drives you into certain frameworks, limitations, lack of freedom.
Butterflies are what existed before the war. The girl is actually Ukraine, the one who runs away and protests against restrictions and slavery. Meeting butterflies, despite everything free and bright, the girl understands that life will continue, the freedom of a butterfly cannot be limited or destroyed.
«A Tale of the Black Square». Author: Mariia Bilinska. Published by «Parasolia» Publishing. Visual design: Mariia Bilinska.
This is a kind of non-fiction about art for children.
«It’s a Quiet Night, My Astronaut». Author: Oksana Lushchevska. Published by #knigolove. Illustrator: Kateryna Stepanishcheva. Layout: Kateryna Voievska.
This is a short story in the form of a children’s diary. The main character is a seven-year-old girl, Iya, who writes down notes during the first ten days of the russian invasion of Ukraine. The story contains details of Iya’s daily life during the war, her worries, dreams and beliefs. Another important character in the book is a fictional astronaut who helps the girl hold on.
«Utility book»
«Illustration in Ukraine. Ілюстрація в Україні». Published by «CP Publishing». Publication concept: Lucia Bondar and «Pictoric» Сlub. Cover design and layout: Roman Kuryliak. Illustrations: «Pictoric» Club.
A joint publication by CP PUBLISHING and the club of illustrators PICTORIC. The book contains more than 200 pages with the works of 30 Ukrainian illustrators. The book was also supplemented with the artists’ stories about their work, the first illustration created, style and technique, as well as personal questions about inspiration and emotions.
Illustrations by Romana Romanyshyn, Anna Andreeva, Polina Doroshenko, Anastacia Sholik, Tania Yakunova and others became part of the book.
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«The Barrier-Free Handbook». Published by ist publishing. Visual design: Volodymyr Havrysh. Illustrations: Olha Dehtiariova.
This is a guide to correct communication, which contains new norms of barrier-free language. It was created in cooperation with public organizations, human rights defenders, psychologists, parents raising children with disabilities, Ukrainian and international experts.
«Experiment»
«аlЬmanaХ», self-published. Visual design: Uliana Sukach-Kochetkova (layout, poems); Nadiia Oleksiivna Rohozhyna (illustrations, design, font design, character design, selection of poets). Together: publication concept, book architectonics, design.
«NA4JOPM8». Author: Igor Chekachkov. Published by ist publishing. Visual design: Ania Nałęcka-Milach, Igor Chekachkov.
«NA4JOPM8» — the name of the photo series by Ukrainian photographer Igor Chekachkov. It appeared after Chekachkov’s eponymous hard drive with a ten-year archive of 250,000 photographs was accidentally destroyed and later (partially) restored.
The photos (that later became damaged files) went through unpredictable circumstances and deep artistic reflection. The photo book addresses Ukrainian social and political issues through personal stories of universal experiences such as loss, passion, intimacy, and loneliness.
Random computer algorithms meant that Chekachkov accomplished the goal he had set and postponed for several years. He combined two vectors of his practice into one, thus consolidating private and public life images into one series.
«PlusMinusInfinity», a local magazine about the global. Visual design: Kateryna Drozd. Cover design: BananaShampoo, Kateryna Drozd.
This is the third issue of the magazine about the modern culture of Eastern Ukraine.
