RS FILES

london – munich
to be continued

Collective photobook based on a set of rules
created for the workshop Self-Publishing and the Photobook.
Sergei and Yulia Skripal were attacked with a nerve agent
in Salisbury, UK. Gleaning the web using the words Russian Spy
on multiple search engines led to online archives, news reports
and Instagram/ Twitter/ Facebook accounts of news agencies.

A selection of 87 gifs and jpegs including press photography,
political archives and screenshots were archived in a single folder
titled RS files. All images were anonymised and given a number
from RS-00.jpg to RS-86.jpg.

A compilation of photographic cutouts from printed newspapers
published in London that week was also made available.
The workshop room was equipped with laser and inkjet printers,
photocopier, scanners, and varied types of paper.

laser and inkjet printing
84 loose A4, A5 + A6 pages
collected with elastic round cord
and backstory infosheet
within printed envelope

Workshop, editing and design:
Jens Masmann and paula roush
Featuring folios by:
Amelia Attle / Raluca Babos / Emma Bircham / Razvan Bronda / Iga Cegielko / Kate Gentry / Jessica Hansson / Isabella Hewlett / Peter Di-Mola Jordan / Kyle Jackson /Charlotte Joseph / Tomasz Klimara / Jai Mills / Daisy Morey / Micah Morgan / Regan Ross / Sam Sutton / Isaac Watson.

RS FILES: backstory

RS FILES is inspired by the photobook AZ. X/1613/80 by Jens Masmann,
presented in his artists’ talk in London March 6th, 2018.
In his lecture, Jens demonstrated how to develop a fictional spy plot
when working with one's own photographic archive.
The bookwork adopts the aesthetics of a police file,
to place the story in the territory of former East Germany
and its Stasi state security police.
The book has an ironic twist on notions of photographic evidencing,
suggesting criminal activity where there is only harmless material,
and is the perfect summation of the photobook as the medium
to evolve a fictional narrative plot through sequencing.

Its content had initially been considered as the source material
for the workshop. However the same week Jens visited London
for the lecture and workshop, Sergei and Yulia Skripal were attacked
with a nerve agent in Salisbury.
paula being a compulsive news reader was fascinated
by the way a spy story was being concocted all over the news
in real time and the AZ. X/1613/80 workshop files were replaced
with the RS files, related the Skripals’ case.

Gleaning the web using the words Russian Spy in multiple search engines
led to online archives, news reports and Instagram/ Twitter/ Facebook
accounts of several news agencies.
A selection of 87 gifs and jpegs including press photography,
political archives and screenshots were archived in a single folder titled RS files.
All the images were anonymised and given a number from RS-00.jpg to RS-86.jpg.
A compilation of photographic cutouts from printed newspapers
published in London that week was also made available.
The workshop room was equipped with laser and inkjet printers, photocopiers,
scanners and varied types of paper.

These were the workshop rules:

Rule 1 - Each participant creates one folio with photographs from the RS Files.
All folios to be assembled in one single signature book loosely bound with elastic.

Rule 2 - Design to include varied: page size, image processing, printing method
and paper type.

Rule 3 - Participants to do their best to match their folios with the ones adjacent in the book structure, starting from the cover, proceeding to the next.

After the participants designed and printed their folios, Jens sequenced the final edition, relying on visual structure and formal-thematic synergies between folios, creating a unique plot for what still remains an unsolved case.
Jens also designed an envelope identifying the project, participants and workshop rules.
Of this edition, 28 copies have been printed with the support of the Research as Practice cluster at the School of Arts and Creative Industries.

Links:

See AZ. X/1613/80 book by Jens Masmann here

See LNDN: Jens Masmann workshop and exhibition
at ə/uh/-books project space here