Little Magazines

The above retro-spoof versions of web services appeared on blogs last week to my delight. The Penguin inspired series designed by Stéphane Massa-Bidal made me laugh but also reminded me of a wonderful online resource which documents the exibition Clip/Stamp/Fold.

Clip/Stamp/Fold is the outcome of a two-year research project undertaken by students in the doctoral program at Princeton and led by Beatriz Colomina. The exhibition first appeared in 2007 at Storefront (pictured below) and has since traveled to the CCA, Documenta, the AA and is currently at the Colegio de Arquitectos de Murcia until January 17th.

The website devoted to the exhibition includes a clickable timeline of magazines from 1962 to 1979, with each pop up providing information about the contents and relevance of the featured issue. Also interesting are the small talks, a series of four video conversations between architects who created magazines during this period including members of archigram, Stefano Boeri, Tony Vidler, Ken Frampton, Hal Foster and several others.

The site also includes a press archive and images of the exhibition in its varying locations.

It also appears that there is a forthcoming publication on the exhibition from ACTAR. While I could not find specific details, Amazon has the release date set at February 2010.

There is really nothing else out there like Clip/Stamp/Fold. This is one of the few organized research efforts around architecture publications which not only documents magazines but also ackowledges their significance as sites for the production of architecture culture.