Frieze A—Z
Frieze A—Z
Book
frieze A to Z of Contemporary Art charts the dynamic landscape of the contemporary art and culture of the past quarter century. Drawing on frieze magazine’s back catalogue of articles, the book brings together a curated collection of fifty engaging highlights, featuring artist interviews; essays on subjects as varied as museums, photography, pre-historic art and television; and think pieces on broader cultural topics, such as fame, gentrification, nostalgia, and style.
As a starting point, we took inspiration from the layout used in traditional encyclopaedias, such as Encyclopaedia Britannica. We kept certain elements, such as the two columns and the page numbers appearing in the page’s top right and left corners, but approached the design with a contemporary perspective. The section openers feature large letters typeset in Ludovic Balland’s Stanley, itself inspired by Times New Roman, in a nod to the democratic position of frieze’s A-Z. The spine features all entries. Phaidon’s final cover features an image, but our preferred cover was a simple typography composition, echoing the clarity of writing of the publication.
Publisher: Phaidon
Contributors: Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover with frieze co-editors Dan Fox, Jörg Heiser and Jennifer Higgie
2016