One Weekend Book series comes to Manila

The Office of Culture and Design (OCD) brings to Manila The One Weekend Book Series, an ongoing editorial project of Barcelona-based design studio Two Points.Net managed by Martin Lorenz and Lupi Asensio. The book project series intends to produce its 11th volume in Manila. It will also include the free workshop ”How To Make a Book in Five Days Without Using Your Computer” on April 19-21. For this particular project, TwoPoints will be working with Jumbo Ranises,a local sign painter who occasionally paints The OCD’s signage, project IDs and logos. Ranises will be the official illustrator of the book. This will be their first time to work with a local artisan. This unconventional publishing practice, also called graphic tourism, has been going on since 2003 and is a mix of publishing, reportage, and creative exercise. TwoPoints usually works with an established illustrator who is native to the city it is visiting. The process includes Martin and a guest artist who are given 48 hours to experience the city, document, and create a visual diary without the use of computers. The result is a re-telling of cultural rediscovery, then graphically digested in the pages of a book. Interestingly, the One Weekend Book Series reports on places and situations unmentioned in cityguides. On the other hand it gives an exhibitionistic view of the personal state of the reporters. In trying to figure out a city, in this case, they are mostly concerned with creating a book. Meanwhile, the book-making workshop will include local artists, graphic designers, design professionals, and students. The collaboration is designed to share this unique and creative editorial/publishing process from the combined wisdom of Asensio and Lorenz. According to the organizers, hopefully it becomes an opportunity to engage local artists to look into alternative platforms and means of publishing. On April 22, ending the project will be a conference entitled “ Common Threads: A Sunday afternoon of books and sounds” which will be attended by the local art and design community. It will end with a poetry reading-performance art event with Lourd de Veyra, Miko Pepito, and Lobregat Balaguer, among others. Second-hand books may also be bought at an informal flea market in The Collective’s open-air patio. The sponsors for this event are Dakila and the Embassy of Spain/AECID, with the support of Kanto Artists Run Space, Yadu, and Ritual General Store. - Press release from Kanto Artists Run Space