First Things First
Tableau: From Wall to Page
The large, very slim catalogue of an exhibition by the Iranian-Swiss photographer Shirana Shahbazi at Berlin’s KINDL adapts the museum presentation to the book format. Shahbazi combines images that often vary in form, content and size into wall installations, and the book follows a similar pattern on its 16 pages of pictures. Each page contains one to four photographs of different sizes and formats and with plentiful white space to create tableaux that change yet are always harmonic. The identical white side margin acts as a frame, and each single or double page appears to stand alone, with no formal or narrative link to the next. The four pages of text at the beginning (essay by the curator) and end (picture captions, colophon) are set in three columns. Everything is simple but extremely precise, and the quality of the photographic reproductions is very high. The comparatively thick, pink hardcover jacket emphasises its function as a protective wrapper for the content and gives the volume a distinct object character that is underscored by the red title plate of imitation leather and the thread-stitched binding.
