Magali Reus creates sculptural forms and site-specific installations, often in series. Her works are subtly suggestive of familiar apparatus, and their forms highlight and explore the contrast between manufacture and craft; versions of mass-produced objects often feature as handmade one-offs, and everyday objects or details are manipulated within their structures. As mist, description, Reus’ first solo institutional exhibition in London, was held at South London Gallery in spring 2018, having been first shown in the exhibition Hot Cottons at Bergen Kunsthall the previous year; we were commissioned to design an accompanying publication.
The book is both a purposeful record of information and a collection of found sections. It begins with maps of the exhibitions in Bergen and London, and a works list with each piece numbered, followed by a selection of installation images. These sections are interspersed with essay sections and inserts representing 1:1 scale reproductions of the bespoke backpack straps and fire hoses that feature within Reus’ work. The colours used on the cover and throughout the book reference the distinctive palette of slightly jarring tones found within Reus’ work, and punched holes on the cover and within the essay pages signify a sense that the book is formed of found sections collected together. The three typefaces used in the book reflect those found within the works; each compliments the others in size, but fights against them visually.
