Colonial Toxicity. Rehearsing French Radioactive Architecture and Landscape in the Sahara

The design of this comprehensive study of French nuclear testing in colonial and post-colonial Algeria succeeds in aptly conveying the rather difficult subject matter without glossing over or obscuring anything. The purple dust jacket features a round hole providing a glimpse of the bright orange desert landscape on the softcover underneath and can be seen as both an enticing invitation and a warning. Strong colours also dominate inside, with all the texts and images printed in a single spot colour per chapter. The colour gradually changes across the dozen-plus chapters, first from brown to orange and then from purple to blue. Among the many colourful books submitted this year, the judicious use of colour here stands out: the chromatic scale is a reference to emissions from atomic tests, but it is also functional in that it makes the beginning of each chapter easy to identify. The colours do not detract from the illustrations; rather, the occasional haziness and blurring emphasise the documentary nature and historical look and feel of the graphic material that presents the desert infrastructure and the secret activities, maps and files in an at times repetitive arrangement. Each chapter begins with an uncommented section of such documents, which are then explained in extensive captions, followed by the actual chapter text. The excellent binding ensures that the nearly 600-page book opens very well. It is one of a striking number of entries in this year’s competition with political themes

Editors
Megan Hoetger, Frédérique Bergholtz, Amsterdam (NL);Georg Rutishauser, Zürich (CH)

Author
Samia Henni, Zürich (CH)

Design
François Girard-Meunier, Amsterdam (NL)

Printing
Wilco B.V., Amsterdam (NL)

Publishers
If I Can’t Dance…, Amsterdam (NL);
edition fink, Verlag für zeitgenössische Kunst,
Zürich (CH); Framer Framed, Amsterdam (NL)

ISBN
978-94-92130-24-5 (If I Can’t Dance);
978-3-03746-266-9 (edition fink);
978-90-834543-2-0 (Framer Framed)