SCREENSAVERS, 2022
concept, ARCHIVal direction and book design FOR SHAYNE OLIVER’S eponymous BRAND anonymous club designed to feel like a case file,
leaving the archive LAID bare.
concept, ARCHIVal direction and book design FOR SHAYNE OLIVER’S eponymous BRAND anonymous club designed to feel like a case file,
leaving the archive LAID bare.
for anonymous club
Desgin with Christian Valasquez
Published by Periodico and LUMA Westbau
SCREENSAVERS Anonymous Club Archive Folios I–VI, 2017–2022 archives the work done by Shayne Oliver while on hiatus from the eponymous fashion label Hood by Air. The breadth of work spans across night-life, Oliver’s residency at Helmut Lang, collaborations with other established fashion houses, performance, video, music, and art direction.
Despite Oliver’s infamy, when I took the project on the full breadth of the group’s output was still largely unknown, and had never been archived. To begin the book I first had to work with Anonymous to create an archival system. Once in place, the approach to the book was rooted in making a generous gesture to their fans, without compromising the illusiveness the brand is known for. In essence the assignment was to be laid bare, without giving it all away.
The design looks more like a CIA case file than a coffee table book, avoiding self-agrandizing signifiers like bespoke typography, hardcover binding and endless streams of full-bleed imagery. In place of commissioned writing, there is only the DACS standard—an ‘output neutral’ set of rules used by archivists to describe the contents of an archive. Layouts use the proportions of plastic archival sleeves, all images are watermarked, and the pages are bound with metal document binders, leaving the spine exposed and blank.
The design looks more like a CIA case file than a coffee table book, avoiding self-agrandizing signifiers like bespoke typography, hardcover binding and endless streams of full-bleed imagery. In place of commissioned writing, there is only the DACS standard—an ‘output neutral’ set of rules used by archivists to describe the contents of an archive. Layouts use the proportions of plastic archival sleeves, all images are watermarked, and the pages are bound with metal document binders, leaving the spine exposed and blank.
