portraiTs of Rucolaartist book
co-published by Tilde
with the support of the Book Binding workshop of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie
2020
design and concept by Stepan Lipatov
Stepan Lipatov contacted me to make a book about a project I had done: a map of all the Rucola plants that grow wild 1 km around Rietveld Academie (136 plants.) I was Stepans roommate and we would chat a lot in the kitchen when he would pour his tea.
I guess this is why the book took the shape of a conversation, which is a very enjoyable shape IF I MAY SAY.
We build worlds in the mixture of words, silence and individual thoughts. There is always something being pulled and brought to surface. Depending who we are having the conversation with we feel more or less that we understand each other and sometimes that doesn’t even matter and we let ourselves be taken by whatever is sprouting. There is both intention and misunderstanding all together in immediate ShlupperyToo.
This conversation was long so topics appeared rather slowly. (slowly.) We mentioned things anecdotes about the Rucola finding, we mentioned Nike Football advertisement campaign Joga Bonito and its reference to public space and to leisure, lazy playing above competitive football, we mentioned green parrots in Amsterdam and their relation to rucola or ourselves. Species that flew and found root in seemingly out-of-context soils.
When the map took form of a book (I’m talking about the second part of the book now) I guess it became like a telephone directory. I don’t know if <you> had those wherever <you> grew up. In Ecuador we had them: a book where you could post your phone number and home address.
Crazy to know where everyone lives. In Portraits of Rucola we have the address of 136 plants in Amsterdam. I wonder if they are still there.
I remember I enjoyed that book a lot because it was Thicker Than The Bible. It was not The Bible but it had that appealing... thin paper.
Our book has very thin paper too. It feels good to the finger. To open and to browse.
Portrait of Rucola is divided in two parts:
A conversation between Stepan and I regarding a map of Rucola plants and a compilation of Rucola plant portraits accompanied with the address where they live.
Co-published by Tilde in the very last of 2020
Designed and conceived by Stepan Lipatov
Binded by Rinus
Printed and cut in collaboration with the Book Binding Workshop of Gerrit Rietveld Academie
the grey/pearl cover of this edition was inspired by an amazing pearl/mermaid manicure that I got before I went to the paper shop