Book news: 10 new titles to flick through this month
Pastoral: Moscow's Suburbs
By Alexander Gronsky
The romance of the banal has become something of a cliché in contemporary photography, but Alexander Gronsky manages to bring a fresh eye to what could have been a familiar subject. Moscow's outskirts are liminal spaces that pair the vast, impersonal slab-sided blocks of Communist-era social housing with areas of apparently untouched countryside. What appear at first to be sylvan havens or secluded beaches are always interrupted by distant walls of concrete or overhead power lines, the sand bearing the imprint of bulldozer tracks and punctured by waste pipes. Yet in every picture, people play and relax, seemingly oblivious to the contradictions. Scattered litter often gives way to proper shanty towns, while tower cranes herald the coming of vast, slab-sided blocks of 'modern' apartments for sale, the architectural differences between ideologies confined to tiny changes of detail.
Published by Contrasto, £30
Writer: Jonathan Bell
Eat, Drink, Nap
By Soho House
Since the first Soho House opened its doors 17 years ago, founder Nick Jones has been perfecting its signature 'House' hospitality. If you've ever wondered what makes its members club experience so sought after, some of the group's secrets have been revealed in a new lifestyle manual entitled 'Eat, Drink, Nap'. After years of advising guests on hosting parties, to serving cocktails and making comfortable beds, Jones decided to compile the 300-page compendium with help from leading food and interiors photographers Mark Seelen and Jean Cazals. From house recipes to decorating insights, the book offers tips and tidings on how to bring the House home.
Published by Preface Publishing, £30
Writer: Mariel Reed
Show Time: The 50 Most Influential Exhibitions of Contemporary Art
By Jens Hoffmann
Modern art has always loved spectacle, from the scandalous reception afforded the first exhibitions of Impressionist and Abstract work at the start of the modernist period through to more recent controversies over presentation, content and artistic intent. Show Time looks at the last two decades of art on show, focusing not just on the controversies but also on the art market's steady global creep, as it stakes out new territories through fairs, emerging collectors and producers.
Published by Thames & Hudson, £29.95
Writer: Jonathan Bell
Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming
By Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby
Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby are designers on the fringes of artistic practice. The duo work and teach - most notably at the RCA's pioneering Design Interactions course - and this new book explores the use of design as an idea-making process, rather than a means of just creating new products and new desires. As a result, many of the illustrated projects, including many of their own, meander between irony and satire, optimistic vision and dystopic warning.
Published by The MIT Press, £19.95
Writer: Jonathan Bell
Anders Petersen
By Anders Petersen
For over 30 years, Swedish photographer Anders Petersen has chronicled the after-dark culture of various cities, focusing on the most marginalised members of society - be they incarcerated or have simply fallen through the cracks. Working in stark black and white, this new monograph from Max Ström presents a galling selection of his best work.
Published by Max Ström, £45
Writer: Jonathan Bell
David Chipperfield Architects
Introduction by David Chipperfield, text by Fulvio Irace
Chipperfield's star continues to ascend, even though his home country can be mysteriously antagonistic to the architect's approach. Regardless of these setbacks (largely usurped by the success of his two recent major cultural projects: The Hepworth Wakefield and Margate's Turner Contemporary), it's continental Europe and the US that has become the main stomping ground of this sophisticated talent. Chipperfield helms one of the few firms that can juggle the demands of a large commercial practice with a densely layered approach to history, context, texture and environment and this new monograph rounds up his latest work.
Published by Thames & Hudson, £48.00
Writer: Jonathan Bell
Conversations on the Hudson
By Nick Hand
This Selby-esque travelogue manages to bring together several contemporary tropes - cycling, craft, crisp macro photography - to offer up a new perspective on the recent emergence of artists and makers in the very vogueish surroundings of the Hudson Valley. The subtitle offers up a tantalising taste of a Jerome K Jerome-style journey - An Englishman bicycles five hundred miles through the Hudson Valley, meeting artists and craftspeople along the way - but in practice author Nick Hand doesn't offer much in the way of a traveller's tale, preferring to let the cast of creatives do their own talking and offer themselves and their work up to his lens.
Published by Princeton Architectural Press, £15.99; available from 1 February, pre-order here
Writer: Jonathan Bell
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Bailey's Stardust
By David Bailey and Tim Marlow
A man in need of no introduction, David Bailey's contribution to photography - be it fashion, reportage or portrait - has been monumental. In Spring 2014 the photographers gets a major retrospective at London's National Portrait Gallery, sponsored by Hugo Boss, and this hefty publication chronicles not just the images but the stories behind the shoots.
Published by National Portrait Gallery, £45
Writer: Jonathan Bell
Tony Fretton Architects: Buildings and their Territories
By Tony Fretton
Birkhäuser's handsome new monograph of the work of Tony Fretton Architects, 'Buildings and their Territories', is stark and sober but ultimately rewarding, much like the studio's architecture. Covering a career that runs all the way from offices for Mute Records through to major galleries, museums and the British Embassy in Warsaw, Fretton has always taken a slightly left field approach, making him the architect of choice for many major artists. Like his contemporary David Chipperfield - also in the frame with a new monograph - his studio has developed a form of minimalism that revels in material qualities and the inevitable idiosyncrasies of everyday life, rather than an impossible asceticism.
Published by Birkhäuser, £64.95
Writer: Jonathan Bell
The Design of Everyday Things: revised and expanded edition
By Donald A Norman
Speak to many product designers of a certain generation and at some point they'll cite this influential 1988 work. The Design of Everyday Things introduced such concepts as human-centred design, and looked long and hard at how our interaction with the world around us could be guided by common sense and a spot of psychology. Donald A Norman's book has now been revised and updated for an era that's more likely to swipe a finger than to flick a switch. Nevertheless, the basic principles of intuitive design remain in place - perhaps even more so. Norman will guide you to a more functional and pleasing place.
Published by The MIT Press, £12.95
Writer: Jonathan Bell
Melina Keays is the entertaining director of Wallpaper*. She has been part of the brand since the magazine’s launch in 1996, and is responsible for entertaining content across the print and digital platforms, and for Wallpaper’s creative agency Bespoke. A native Londoner, Melina takes inspiration from the whole spectrum of art and design – including film, literature, and fashion. Her work for the brand involves curating content, writing, and creative direction – conceiving luxury interior landscapes with a focus on food, drinks, and entertaining in all its forms
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Discothèque perfumes evoke the scent of Tokyo in the year 2000
As Discothèque gets ready to launch its first perfume collection, Mary Cleary catches up with the brand’s founders
By Mary Cleary Published
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This unassuming London house is a radical rethinking of the suburban home
Station Lodge by architect Andrei Saltykov in South West London offers a radical subversion to regional residential architecture
By Ellie Stathaki Published
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Explore 100 years of Svenskt Tenn and the interiors Estrid Ericson has crafted
‘A Philosophy of Home’ explores 100 years of Svenskt Tenn and the daring vision for interiors its founder Estrid Ericson developed
By Diana Budds Published
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'Moroseta Kitchen' is a new recipe book offering a glimpse into the Puglian countryside
'Moroseta Kitchen - A Window Into The Puglian Countryside' by Giorgia Eugenia Goggi is based on the essence of eating in Italy, rooted in farm to table seasonal recipes
By Tianna Williams Published
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‘Bethlehem’ is a new recipe book celebrating Palestinian food
‘Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food’ is a recipe book by Fadi Kattan that celebrates culinary tradition and explores untold stories
By Tianna Williams Published
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René Redzepi, Mette Søberg and Junichi Takahashi on Noma’s new cookbook
Lifting the lid on Noma’s secrets, a new cookbook celebrates the pioneering restaurant’s season menus, and offers a deep dive behind the scenes
By Jeni Porter Last updated
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60-Second Cocktails book shakes up summer happy hour at home
This 60-Second Cocktails book brings summer happy hour into your home with easy but sophisticated cocktail recipes and tips to guide even novice shakers
By Martha Elliott Last updated
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New cookbook transforms horror movies into terrifying food art
Horror Caviar, the first cookbook from A24, features recipes inspired by horror movies, from creatives including Laila Gohar and Chloe Wise, alongside essays by Carmen Maria Machado, Stephanie LaCava, and more
By Mary Cleary Last updated
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Edible flowers: the how, the what and the why
A new book from Monacelli, Edible Flowers: How, Why, and When We Eat Flowers, uncovers a fascinating history
By Hannah Silver Last updated
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Match point: learn how to properly pair food and wine
Learn a thing or two about fine cooking and wine selection with this new book from the London Club
By Melina Keays Last updated
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Fragile Self’s multi-platform debut album is a fervent fusion of sound and vision
The designer behind David Bowie's album covers has released a multimedia album exploring the history of psychology and the definition of ‘normality'
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Last updated