Part showcase, part recipe book, this publication is a blog-like overview of works from the artists Dennis de Bel and Roel Roscam Abbing. R&D: a low-end rich media publication stretches to nearly 200 pages; showing their prototypes, try-outs and designs (created during a two year collaboration). Their work makes a playful case for rethinking and reconsidering media and communications technologies.
Swiping through the pages, you can find designs for DIY smartphones, a guide on making internet connections via a walkie-talkie, and experiments in feline file-sharing. As both artists have a preference for the obsolete and the inefficient, the book comes with a complimentary optical disk featuring inclusive bonus material such as the source code, electronics schematics and a digital edition of the publication.
And, to complement the blurb above, here are some exciting keywords – thrillingly presented as hashtags – that you can ponder. #Inefficiency #lowres #downgrading #barelyefficient #slackerdesign #failosophy #wasteoftime #VaporWare #darkweb #disnovation.
Order at Underbelly (NL) or Motto (DE) (sold out)