Bilderlexikon - Jan Svankmajer

Švank-mayers Bilderlexikon by Jan Svankmajer / 318-page hardback book, 8.25 x 9.25 inches, published by Athanor / English-language edition from 2022

Incredible book, apparently now out-of-print

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In 1972, Jan Švankmajer started working on the project of his imaginative Bilderlexikon. At the time, however, it was an act of sheer desperation, as it was clear that he would never be able to implement the project in full. After a year of painstakingly cutting image bases and pasting collages, he realized that creating some kind of adequate imaginative reflection of Brockhaus or Meyers Konversations-Lexikon was a task not only beyond his powers, but also beyond the possibilities of the time. Compiling the Bilderlexikon of an alternate world would be the work of a lifetime, and not just for one person. In 2022, we decided to publish at least the torso of this planned book and tried to get all the materials, which were often technically of completely poor quality, mostly already available… But before this book could be published, the world turned upside down. But maybe he didn’t topple over, he just sped up. Millions of refugees are already here, but from a different part of the world than expected. All ecological plans to save the planet fall by the wayside. The green “Deal” fell. On the other hand, coal and nuclear power were given the green again. Instead of saving the planet, we have an arms race again.