At this very moment, the next issue of FANTASTIC MAN is at the printers, a painstaking process that receives as much care and attention as the creation of the magazine itself. It is with this love of print in mind that the online realm of FANTASTIC MAN will celebrate other printed titles from around the world that similarly commit themselves to exploring the possibilities of the printed page.
Better late than never comes the recommendation to seek out the current issue of PIN-UP, the (normally) New York-based biannual architecture and design magazine. Please note the ‘normally’, since founding editor-in-chief FELIX BURRICHTER currently holds camp at the Schindler Residency in the city of Los Angeles, where, as followers of certain gossip publications may know, FELIX and his vintage VOLVO have already had the misfortune to crash into several B-list celebrities’ cars. FELIX is currently working on a new issue of PIN-UP, to be out in October or November, and a special limited edition publication, together with artist SARAH ORTMEYER, loosely based around the life of RUDOLPH SCHINDLER and his wife PAULINE. Sounds like fun. One should of course know that PIN-UP’s fitting tag line is “MAGAZINE FOR ARCHITECTURAL ENTERTAINMENT”. In the current issue, when asked about his children, star-architect DANIEL LIBESKIND explains how his daughter is “an artist, and a scholar, and a wonderful person”; his one son works for an International NGO called Task Force for Holocaust Genocide, while his other son is a cosmologist. “He’s actually a computational-theoretical cosmologist,” corrects the architect, upon which interviewer HORACIO SILVA says: “No offence, but that sounds sexier than being an architect.”
COMMENTS
Grrg:
Oddly, “Task Force for Holocaust Genocide” is completely unknown to Google.
Gert:
Hi GRRG, that’s true, good point, but a bit of research leads to here:
http://www.holocausttaskforce.org
horst:
one tiny note of optimization for an otherwise perfect example of print artistry: print the prize on the cover
matt h:
Pin Up is an example of an art and fashion magazine that has no clue what it is doing, and this is evident from the freakishly hideous design of the covers to the seemingly random and trendy subjects covered.
CATT Y:
@Matt H
I find the covers to be discrete, anti-spectacle, and most of all fresh (albeit slightly esoteric). They completely buck the traditional cover formula. It’s a different way of marketing that perhaps will find its relevance as we see printed magazines become less about immediacy (which the internet has enough of) and more about considered and individualized content. Pin-up’s covers require some intellectual and visual unpacking and consequently more of the reader’s time, this can be challenging for certain people but those people aren’t the kind that would be interested in architecture as entertainment anyway.
Perhaps you’re overlooking the self-admitted entertainment aspect of the magazine? Pin-Up IS of the moment, hence the “trendy subjects”. But what “art and fashion” magazine (which Pin-Up is neither) isn’t? Considering most ARCHITECTURE magazines are full of either academic humdrum or home furnishing ads under the guise of journalism, a little fantasy and feelers stretched out to the zeitgeist is certainly welcomed in this genre.
No, Pin-Up is not the typical “art and design” magazine and I’m curious what your criteria are for a well-designed cover and timeless content. More so, what do you think are some magazines that do have a clue?
raybird:
The only magazines which should not be used to line the bottom of a bird cage are Fantastic Man and maybe Monocle.
Maryln Milbourne:
Hi really great site and good post. It was very helpful. Only problem is some of the links don’t work and I can’t figure out the RSS. But keep at it.