Page Bureau / RELATED DEPARTMENT

Since 2015, Wen-You Cai has returned on multiple occasions to her parents' hometown of Quanzhou, Fujian, to attend the funerals of her deceased relatives. The ceremonies in the Minnan region unfold like grand dramas in which she is both an observer and a participant. Throughout the ceremony, Wen-You is enveloped in the unknown; everything seems meticulously arranged. Amidst the overwhelming grief of losing loved ones, there exists a feeling of confusion, and taking photographs was one of the ways for her to engage in the funeral process. For this photo series, Wen-You was initially confronted by her own fear of death, intertwined with her bewilderment and curiosity about the complex funeral rituals and its uniqueness inherent to Minnan culture. To demystify these subjects, Wen-You, joined by te editions, interviewed a funeral director who provides comprehensive “one-stop services,” a monk who hosts Buddhist ceremonies, and a folklorist of Minnan rituals. Minnan Exit can be interpreted as many things–a family album, a curated collection of photographs, an unfinished journey of discovery, as well as the process of Wen-You's reconciliation with her mortality. Minnan Exit was designed by an independent graphic design studio, RELATED DEPARTMENT. Through the artist's lens, the design team sought inspiration from funeral objects and rituals, to create a visual concept for the publication's structure and layout with the regional characteristics of Minnan.


Author & Photography: Wen-You Cai
Editor: te editions
Special Interviewees: Chen Huaxian, Master Puyuan, You Gongchu (A-Bue)
Design & Art Direction: Related Department
Published by te editions

“Counterfictions” is an artwork by London-based artist Chris Zhongtian Yuan, in which the artist experiments with video, fiction, sound, architecture and performance to query political policy and social connections. “Counterfictions” uses Donald Trump as a starting point, as he builds a fictional wall in the public imagination. The film questions what happens when the world leans towards populism and conservatism. The sound architecture piece constructs alternative realities of ecological collapse after the construction of Trump’s border wall proposal. Layers of sound are combined with shadowy shots of arid landscapes. Facts and statistics from scientists, journalists and the former President’s speeches are referenced. The piece reaches a crescendo as a biologist tracks a genetically mutated species along the US Mexico border. The artist received The 2020 Aesthetica Art Prize’s Emerging Prize for “Counterfictions”. This publication is designed by RELATED DEPARTMENT as an archive folder of loose leaves containing research materials, video stills, diagrams, model prototypes and other related files for this artwork.

PLATES as an editorial and curatorial response to contemporary design practice and criticism. Each issue dives into a specific topic that is pertinent to the design reality we live in, presented and archived in a series of image and textual plates in an organic, iterative and evolving format.

PLATES can be visual, textual, tectonic and everyday.

In its first iteration, PLATES presents collective voices of practitioners situated along overlaps or cracks between disciplines to rethink the subject “Manifesto vs. Manifest” in relation to their practice through this iterative lens. The manifesto as a category of writing feels fixed and loaded, while contemporary design operates on the intersection of many manifestos, sensationalism in media, technological hype, identity, geopolitics, 
social activism, inclusivity and misalignment, alt texts, screenshots, fragmented truth, psychic readings on TikTok, and endless advertisements everyday everywhere. Iteration 1 manifests a version of each contributor and/or their practice in this convoluted and cacophonous context, shaped for any now or any future.

PLATES is a publishing project initiated by RELATED DEPARTMENT. The first issue Manifesto vs Manifest is art directed and designed by RELATED DEPARTMENT and Gabriel Melcher Studio.

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Contributors: (A-Z)
Can Yang
Catherine Griffiths
Dinamo
Draw Down Books
Gabriel Melcher
Hezin O
Jack Self
John Provencher
Lamm & Kirch
Lukas Eigler-Harding
Nat Pyper
Related Department
Secret Riso Club
Sulki & Min
Tetsuya Goto
Toru Kase
Velvetyne
Vrints-Kolsteren

Lost Dog Again?! is the second issue of Lost Dog Zine, inspired by a wide range of DIYed flyers for missing pets crowdsourced from the chaotic internet & the chaotic streets. First issue released at Off Duty exhibition by FEVER DOG and RELATED DEPARTMENT in 2019.