The view of translation as a second-rate, derivative form of writing, seems to prevail in Western discourse on the subject since sometime around the 17th century. The lowly status of translation is reflected in standard book publishing practices and in modern copyright law. It is perhaps because of our desire to think of the translations as a trancparency, a clear window through which we see the meaning of the original, that we lose sight of the obvious impossibility of one-to-one correspondence and take for granted the presence of the translator and the choices and praxis involved in the task (Matvei Yankelevich).

Compilation of notes and introductions written by translators on different attitudes towards the level of transparency and authorship of their mediation, as well as the inescapable trade-off they have to face between form and meaning. Fifteen contributors dealing with analogous concerns in their practices, selected pages from their personal libraries, present in the book as facsimile versions.

Contributions by Derek Byrne, Fred Cave, Cecília Costa, Paul Elliman, Yana Foqué, Daniel Frota, Virginie Gauthier, Will Holder, Mathew Kneebone, Menealos Kouroudis, Pedro Moraes, Miguel Nóbrega, Maria Jimena Sanchez, Lisette Smits and Sarah Tripp.

“Fully submerged in the damp earth, I was deprived of visual sensation… Perhaps due to the mesmerising emptiness of the black void or else the lack of oxygen, my eyes soon made images of their own. Pulsating wires entangled before me and emitted an eerie green glow before surging brightly then fizzling away like fireworks. This combination of oscillating blotches and meandering lines crept from the corners of my vision like the growing outlines of a nervous system…”
Mechanical System Drawings Vol. 2 brings together a collection of drawings by Mathew Kneebone whose practice encompasses writing, performance, sculptural installation and drawings. As a child, Mathew’s sister was struck by lightning during a family trip, an event which could have triggered the corpus of work Mathew is working on to this day.

Phantom Radio is an occasional radio station of the Werkplaats Typografie broadcasting live at irregular intervals. This booklet, published during WT’s residency at HMCT Los Angeles contains an introduction, a water analogy, a beginner’s guide to radio, a manual for the Phantom Radio, a series of drawings by Mathew Kneebone, conversations with Luke Fischbeck from Kchung, Alejandro Cohen and Ajay Ravi from Dublin, and a postcard from Redondo Beach. Made possible with the generous support of the Typography Center.

For this year’s LA Art Book Fair the Werkplaats Typografie was investigating the topic of Breaking-even. The Breaking-even publication presents a tangible outcome of the experience of Breaking-even at the LA Art Book Fair. Each workshop served as a chapter in the book and within that each participant’s contribution is represented. The six chapters of the book each present one of the workshops held at the fair, unraveling the mystery of breaking-even.