Interviews with texts and imaginary autobiographies by Luc Ferrari

Critical Ear #6

book, 176 pages

hard cover with half-linen binding and hot foil stamping

scope: design

client: Errant Bodies Press, Berlin / Los Angeles

Originally published in France in 2002, Jacqueline Caux’s »Presque Rien avec Luc Ferrari« is the first book to offer a comprehensive and insightful look into the work and career of one the most pioneering music composers of the second half of the 20th century. Errant Bodies Press release the English edition translated by Jérôme Hansen.

True to the genre-defying career of Luc Ferrari, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 76, the book skilfully assembles original interviews conducted by the author with previously unpublished texts in which the composer reflects on some of his key works. The interviews are also interspersed with fourteen short »imaginary autobiographies«, written from 1971 to 1997, and ranging from semi-factual accounts to more poetic, fictional, or even science-fictional pieces.

Following Luc Ferrari’s sensual approach to music, the design of the book tries to translate this sensuality into material and colours, which are pleasurable for the fingers to experience and surprising for the eye. Also the inside of the book is full of different »voices«. Three different typefaces seperate three sorts of texts: the autobiographicle texts, the interview texts and the footnotes. These three components are also interwoven with different grey values to form a composition which changes with every double page.