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The Hollywood-based studio Arkitip approaches magazine publishing as a form of artmaking, conceiving each issue of its eponymous publication as a desirable, visually dynamic object in its own right. The studio—which also produces clothing and other merchandise—has taken on a broad variety of themes since the magazine’s first issue, which measured a diminutive 10 x 10 and had a corrugated cardboard cover. (The publication changes its size and format every six months.) They’ve also worked with lots of different artists and photographers, including fashion photographer Terry Richardson…
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…and music photographer Peter Beste, whose name is synonymous with the Norwegian black-metal scene…
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As Hypebeast notes, the theme of the upcoming issue is collaboration. Among the pairings featured are director Gus Van Sant and onetime Warhol associate Paige Powell; artist Tom Sachs and Camilla Deterre; and Bruce Wolf—who collaborated with his cat Ying. No, that is not a typo; Bruce and his cat are sharing the spotlight for this one. It’s actually not as unusual as it sounds. Bruce’s feline co-efforts, like “Death by Cat,” are quite successful.
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"Blue Bird Wing," from Bruce Wolf's series "Death by Cat."
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X: Mark of Collaboration, which was overseen by Ace Hotels’ Alex Calderwood and Wieden+Kennedy’s John C. Jay, isn’t out till December 28, but Arkitip has begun taking orders for the hand-numbered, limited-edition magazine.
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Here’s the intro by Alex and John:
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The poet Ryunosuke Satoro said, “Individually, we are one drop. Together we are an ocean.”
This philosophy is the inspiration for this issue…an exploration, celebration, commentary on the joys of collaboration through our own personal lens. People collaborate on many levels. It occurs in nature, technology, science, art, music and politics. For this issue of Arkitip, we asked artists, technologists, writers and friends to show us a recent collaboration or to create something new. Creative work for this issue originated from New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, San Francisco, Shanghai, Seattle, Paris, Miami, Cape Town and Portland.
Tokyo in the 90s was in what seemed to be an eternal funk. As usual, it was the young people that offered hope and creative juice to society, thus a highly entrepreneurial subculture began to discover it own influence. These new creators and designers were born from a tight group of friends, so although they were perhaps competitors, they often joined forces to create new products and identities for the young.
Only in Tokyo does consumerism have such spiritual power. Thus the emergence of double brands, where products were able to take on dual characteristics and unique personalities. Soon the “X” in Japan’s subculture became a symbol of personal collaboration. A good collaboration starts with an inspired idea, a desire for unexpected results and mutual respect or pure love of another’s work.
A great collaboration occurs at that nexus of unforeseen possibilities and positive friction. Grace, openness and honesty can achieve extra-ordinary results. The most satisfying experiences in our careers, as a Cultural Engineer and a Creative Director, have been these moments. – Alex Calderwood + John C Jay
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