Theseus Chan founded his Singapore-based creative consultancy WORK in 1997, after working in advertising for a decade. WERK magazine, launched in 2000, is a self-published venture that grew out of his desire to experiment more freely with print production processes than he could in typical client projects. With its cover printed in a rich blue, issue 13 of WERK documents a 2005 exhibition at Tate Modern of sculptural work by contemporary Belgian artist Jan de Cock. Images by Singapore photographer Kirby Koh show the freestanding plywood forms installed at Tate Modern—which is housed in a converted power station—that the artist envisioned as a ‘confrontation with the architecture’. Mirroring the way in which de Cock’s installation created new perspectives for occupants of the museum’s spaces, the issue has a complex series of die-cut windows that reveal new parts of the interior as the reader moves through the magazine. The spreads could not be designed in isolation, and Chan had to account for how the varied cut-outs would affect the composition of multiple pages. Sans-serif typography and graphic framing of thin lines evoke the geometric modernist typography and architecture that informed de Cock’s work.

With a small print run and a loose editorial mission of presenting the work of other designers and artists, WERK takes heavy inspiration from street art and the history of DIY graphics. Chan describes his design process as ‘organic’, unfolding without predetermined outcomes. Often incorporating recycled or handmade elements to create a multilayered, highly textured object, WERK draws attention to the sensory properties of printed matter.

Hardcover
288 pages
300 x 220 mm
Color
Spring Summer 2006