Library Meetings | A Publication Design Process: Otomy • Onagöre discussed the publication design process it developed together with the authors of Otomy and conducted a creative autopsy of knowledge production through the book. The Library Meetings event took place at the Design Library on Wednesday, September 21st, at 19.00.
Library Meetings is an event series focusing on books written in the fields of design. It aims to bring authors and readers together while creating space for different ideas and perspectives.
Otomy | Otomy is based on the ongoing collaboration between Ekin Kano and Deniz Kırkalı, which began in 2020. The book embodies their shared interest in the body — its interior, exterior, boundaries, materiality, decay, leakage and transformation — which forms the backbone of both their research and practices, as well as their interest in painting as a medium, form and material. Designed as an object conscious of its own cross-section, the book offers an opportunity to journey into different bodies. It opens the body layer by layer and approaches it as a site of knowledge production, a space for collaboration and an opportunity to form relationships. With a spine composed of silicone layers produced by Kano and Kırkalı, Otomy establishes a close relationship between design and content. Published in June 2022, Otomy is edited by Emrah Serdan.
Founded on the principles of fair distribution and equal participation in publishing, Onagöre has been active in Istanbul’s arts and culture scene and has supported artists since 2005. By including artists within its structure, it creates space for experimental and innovative approaches not only in the books it publishes but also throughout the processes leading to publication. Although publishing is Onagöre’s primary field of activity, it also provides archiving, organisation and editorial consultancy services and support for various arts and culture projects. In this way, it activates a broad social network and creates opportunities to apply alternative economic approaches such as bartering.
Deniz Kırkalı is an independent curator and writer whose practice focuses on posthuman thought in contemporary art and the body as a site of knowledge production and collaboration. She is a co-founder of the curatorial and research collective topsoil and the research programme Garp Sessions. In 2019, she curated the exhibition They Are My Friends at DEPO.
Ekin Kano’s artistic practice focuses on the blurring of boundaries between the human and non-human and on alternative materialities emerging through the uncertainties of the body. Kano’s works on the Anthropocene, evolution and natural history have been presented in various group exhibitions in Istanbul, Los Angeles, Zurich, Paris, Belgrade and Winterthur.
After graduating from the Department of Comparative Literature at Istanbul Bilgi University, Emrah Serdan completed a master’s degree in English and World Literature at the University of Oxford. He teaches literature and continues to work as an editor and translator.
Faruk Ali Taptık is an architect, artist and publisher. His personal work focuses on subjects including the representation of urban landscapes and architecture, the relationship between the individual and the city, and the relationship between literature and visuality. A member of the team that founded Bandrolsüz in 2011, Taptık has managed Onagöre, which publishes independent artists’ books, since 2017.
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