ISSUE02 focuses on IDENTITY.  We want to examine how we are brought up and what we seek out when we create our own identity.  What is imposed on us and what comes from within? What do we feel, what don’t we feel? Do we have our own singular identity or do we identify as part of a collective? What happens when we lose our identity? What happens when we recreate it? What defines us? Is there even a need to define our identity?            

Our identity can be formed by many different factors: place, environment, people, friends, religion, networks, interests, economics, sexuality, race. What do we grow in opposition to? Consider not only the identity of yourself and other people but of countries, companies, political parties, collectives. This is a spattering of questions we are asking that in no way even begin to scratch the surface of this topic. 

From Mennonites in Mexico to musicians in Johannesburg, the collectivity of microorganisms to the Hong Kong protests, suburban Japan to metropolitan Armenia, elfsluts to skaters, the Tower of Babel to the City Palace of Jaipur - you’ll find it all in SOFT EIS ISSUE02 IDENTITY. SOFT EIS isn’t your normal magazine where content sits on blank pages, we push designers to use every inch of space to create something wacky, weird, and wonderful. We challenge the status quo of publication, choosing projects that are deeply personal, highly unusual, and always experimental.

Cover and logo designed by Martina Rastočić. Internal chapters designed by Claire Hovine, Nathaniel Brown, Alexander Naumann, and Martina Rastočić respectively.

Chapter One.

Immer mehr Menschen schätzen das kulturelle Angebot der Stadt, können aber auch ohne eine gewisse Nähe zur Natur nur schwer leben. Die Gegensätzlichkeit und räumliche Trennung von Stadt und Land lösen daher oftmals inneren Zwiespalt aus.
Wo leben wir und wo werden wir leben? Zwei Fragen, die mehr beleuchten als den reinen Wohnort. Für MORA Magazine Chapter One begeben wir uns tief in den urbanen Dschungel und machen Ausflüge ins Grüne. Wir hinterfragen unsere Verbindung zur Natur und die Weise, wie wir uns ernähren. Wir wagen den Blick in die Zukunft und beschäftigen uns mit Nachhaltigkeit. Wir flüchten in Idyllen und Kunstwelten.

Wir sind MORA. Wir sind das neue Magazin aus Berlin. Wir sind Print. Wir sind Schönheit, Kunst, Mode, Musik und vor allem entschleunigter Journalismus. Wir sind Modemagazin, Fotobuch und Zeitung. Wir brechen Genres auf und mit Vorurteilen.

In Berlin Quarterly’s signature long-form reportage, journalist Zuzanna Bukłaha delineates the current political and social fissures in her native Poland. Contextualising the recent abortion ban and homophobic legislation with Poland's political history, Bukłaha reports on the protests and art happening as a response to these new statutes.

Beloved German writer Jenny Erpenbeck looks back on her childhood in East Berlin with three short memoir works; Marek Bienczyk contributes to the issue with a study on transparency, touching on fears of deception and overexposure; and Pablo Maurette investigates the concept of ketman, a creative form of self-censorship that intellectuals and artists practice under totalitarian regimes. In fiction, Mark Tardi translates Olga Hund, exploring the inner workings of a psychiatric hospital.

The twelfth issue features two contemporary poets: Ann Cotten, called “the new face of German poetry” by Die Zeit, whose experimentation nods to postwar German surrealism; and Xandria Phillips, whose Lambda award-winning debut collection was praised as “a decolonisation of space and self ” by Claudia Rankine.

Elliott Verdier’s photo portfolio documents the cinematic landscapes of Kyrgyzstan, a young republic marked by its Soviet past. The archive section features Anaïs Tondeur’s stunning, haunting cyanotypes of vegetation from Chernobyl alongside meditations on the tragedy and its aftermath by writer Michael Marder. Together, this visual artwork and fragmented text serve as witness and orator, as the history wanders into philosophical prose and personal memoir.

DETAILS:
ISSN: 2198-0039
Publication Date: January 2021
Publisher: Cycling Bear Publishing, Berlin

non essential #4

The non essential zine series continues. 52 pages of velvet paper. All killer no filler content!

non essential #3

The non essential zine series continues. 52 pages of velvet paper. All killer no filler content!

Zum Abschied vom Flughafen Tegel TXL: Die definitive Baumonografie der Berliner Architekturikone.

Lust Surrender

Lust Surrender is my second book of photography, containing work from 2017 up to pre covid 2020. The book has a soft cover and 144 pages of velvet paper. Layout design was done by Elias Karniaris. Foreword text "Towards an orificial notion of sex and photography in the practice of Spyros Rennt" was written by Selin Davasse.

non essential #2

Second from 2 new zines from 2020. 52 pages of velvet paper. More killer content!

non essential #1

First from 2 new zines from 2020. 52 pages of velvet paper. All killer no filler content!

Spaces Between Magazine

Ten Berlin-based photographers. Ten disposable cameras. A kaleidoscopic representation of the metropolis comes together in Spaces Between, IGNANT’s first print magazine. Designed by Deutsche & Japaner, the magazine features work from Alexander Kilian, Arturo Bamboo, Jasmine Deporta, Joseph Kadow, Lukas Korschan, Sarah Blais, Sigurd Grünberger, Silvia Conde, Vitali Gelwich and Volker Conradus.

Karl-Heinz Drescher (born on October 7, 1936 in Quirl; died on May 19, 2011 in Berlin) was a graphic artist working at Bertolt Brecht’s world famous theater Berliner Ensemble as a graphic designer for almost 40 years. In addition to his work at this house, Drescher also worked for other organizers, museums, galleries, and theaters, amongst others the Akademie der Künste der DDR, the Maxim-Gorki-Theater, and the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin. His catalog of works today comprises over 400 posters, about one third printed with letterpress.

In a one-year research, the designer Markus Lange contacted Drescher’s family and conducted various interviews with companions and friends to find out more about this talented designer, who studied from 1955 to 1960 in the former GDR at the same school as he did (Burg Giebichenstein, formerly Hochschule für industrielle Formgestaltung).

For the first time, this book summarizes most of Drescher’s (typographic) posters in one comprehensive volume and contains texts and interviews by various authors such as Dr. Friedrich Diekmann, Dr. Sylke Wunderlich, Helmut Brade, Niklaus Troxler, Gerd Fleischmann, Jamie Murphy, Erik Spiekermann, Ferdinand Ulrich, Götz Gramlich, Peter Kammerer, Vera Tenschert, Cesarina and Alessandro Drescher. “Karl-Heinz Drescher—Berlin Typo Posters, Texts, and Interviews” serves as a review of the life of an extraordinary theater graphic designer but also as an inspiration for the here and now.

About Elska 19 (London, England):

Our nineteenth Elska Magazine issue is our second to be made in the UK, but our first to be made in England. Inside, readers are introduced to fifteen men from the local gay/queer community. Each get their own chapter containing a personal story they wrote from their life in the city, and several intimate and unairbrushed images shot of them inside their homes and out in their neighbourhoods. None are hired models or celebrities, none of the scenes are staged, and none of the stories are commissioned, resulting in an honest glimpse at gay lives in the British capital.

Living in London is vastly different to what tourists see and experience, which is why the images don't show what you might expect - there's no Buckingham Palace or even a Gherkin in the background. The stories are rather more real as well, and in the case of our London issue, often a bit dark. 

Some of the fifteen men you'll meet in Elska London include:

• Tommy M, who talked about the fabulous gay life he dreamed of as a teenager, eventually moving to London from his native Lithuania to find year after year of his expectations being shattered;

• Harry F, who shared a recent experience dealing with a barrage of homophobia from a punter at his local pub, something he didn’t expect to happen in this city and in 2018;

• Omar B, who wrote about learning to accept loneliness as a normal part of London life, and learning how to flourish anyway;

• Jamie T, who opened up about a sexually unwelcome experience at a work function and how the #MeToo movement has barely reached the LGBTQ community;

• Brad C; who discussed the trials of dating in the capital in a colourfully detailed and most explicit way that transports you into the city's pubs, parks, and bedrooms.

Features images of / stories from: Omar B, Dylan T, Darren B, Jose C, Jamie T, Alex L, Wellie Y, Sean B, Kamil M, Harry F, Tommy M, Brad C, Victor U-K, Konstantin Z, and Thomas G.

Details and Specs:

Elska London is 180 pages. The print version is A5 (24cm x 14.8cm / 5.8 x 8.3 in), full colour, perfect-bound, and on 130gsm (90lb) matte paper. One random Elska Collectors' Postcard is inserted inside.

Details and Specs:

Elska Berlin is 180 pages. The print version is 170mm x 240mm (approx 6.7 x 9.4 in), full colour, sewn-bound, offset-printed, and on 130gsm (90lb) internal matte paper and 280gsm (110lb) textured coated coverage paper with flaps. One random Elska Collectors' Postcard is inserted inside.

Elska Berlin is our second issue, made in one of the world's gay meccas. It quickly too became one of our most popular issues ever, and after selling out some time ago (and receiving loads of requests to make more), we finally decided to reissue it. However, we didn't do a simple reprint. We decided to redo the issue completely, going into our Berlin archives and selecting each image and story from scratch. The result is over 50% previously unpublished images, making the new Elska Berlin attractive for old and new customers alike. We also chose to redo the print version in our new bigger and lovelier format, making it all the more attractive.

The issue is divided into twelve chapters, each dedicated to one particular man who the Elska team met on their trip to Berlin. Each chapter includes a dozen or so images, taken of the subject both in the city streets and at home, dressed in their own style or often nude. Each chapter also includes a personal story contributed by each guy, sort of like an intimate conversation or diary entry. The goal of the magazine is to act as a sort of virtual transport to the city, inviting readers to meet a selection of local guys, get to know them, and fall in love with them and the city.

Features images of / stories from: Bastian C, Marc Y, Diego S, Luca T, Roman T, Emil T, Colin C, Falko D, David P, Heiko M, Matija M, and Raphael K.

We also recommend ordering Elska Ekstra Berlin, available separately, for loads of outtakes, a behind the scenes diary of our Berlin trip, and to meet the following additional men: Shir N, Luca T, Alessandro G, Adam G, Ticha T, and Max E.

The photography of ‘Elska Berlin’ and ‘Elska Ekstra Berlin’ includes work by Liam Campbell, Fedya Ili, Jonathan Lemieux, and Andriy Melnyk. The stories are written by the subjects themselves.

Details and Specs:

Elska Berlin is 180 pages. The print version is 170mm x 240mm (approx 6.7 x 9.4 in), full colour, sewn-bound, offset-printed, and on 130gsm (90lb) internal matte paper and 280gsm (110lb) textured coated coverage paper with flaps. One random Elska Collectors' Postcard is inserted inside.

In Berlin Quarterly’s signature longform reportage, Allyn Gaestel writes from Kinshasa, profiling an independent collective of sex workers in the Congolese capital. Gaestel traces the history of sex work in the region from colonial times to the present, and grounds the reportage in close portraits of the women involved.
This fiction-rich issue includes four short stories: Clemens Meyer’s whirlwind account of sex work in East Germany, Esther Kinsky’s meditation on the Rhine river, Eloghosa Osunde’s encounter with ghouls, and Darryl Pinckney’s fraught romances in Berlin.
Two Nigerian poets are featured: Niran Okewole and Precious Arinze. Their work is expansive, ranging both in form and content, from contemporary scenes of women kissing in churches to naming major perpetrators of the slave trade. In addition, renowned German poet Jan Wagner appears in both German and English, as well as in conversation with poetry editor Ezequiel Zaidenwerg.
Jann Höfer’s photo portfolio illustrates a German village in Chile, founded after WWII, in its awkward rebranding as a tourist destination after the incarceration of its leader. The uncanny portraits capture both the aging population and the cinematic landscapes that surround the former cult.