About the project

Hi, I am Gábor Kasza, photographer. I took a photo series two years ago. The title is:

“Concrete passages about closeness and coldness… and a couple of songs"

 I decided to make a photo-book with a special coherence of theme, design and form; at the intersection of these they create a whole new piece of art, a book. The unfinished concrete building structures and the grey concrete surface lead us through the pages. I designed a piece to echo its content, somewhere between a damaged, unfinished volume and a contemporary minimalistic shape. The look of the book gives the same unfinished impression as the buildings.

The soft cover has exactly the same weight, as the next pages. The back cover is a simple grey paper board. I used the red-coloured pages in a ratio corresponding to the red in the photographs. The Japanese Fukuro Toji binding style (bound-pocket books), the double-folded pages allude to the human couple story.

My decision to use real concrete as a material, that would be great to touch and to sense, turned out to be pretty tough. The designers, whom I presented the idea always gave me the same answer: “Who has time to do this? It’s not a business. It’s too thin and complicated, maybe even impossible.” Impossible? That sounded like a challenge, so I became interested in doing it myself. It is almost impossible to make, but not completely. I had to learn to work with concrete, learn how it works, what its edges are. I searched for a solution. It took over a year just to develop the prototype. Here is the result! I would like to publish, to reproduce and to spread it.

About the photo series

This is a poetic photo series about relationships. It is as if we are strolling amongst the pieces of a contemporary opera set. Just, the stories take place in concrete spaces.

There are smaller abstract compositions positioned between the figurative pictures. These compositions fill up with particular emotions, which progress on to other emotive qualities. Geometric patterns also draw the story on, as they return from image to image and in this way help to establish coherence in the series. There are some diptychs shot in the same space from two different points of view. Also, one pair of photographs was taken at exactly the same moment.

As the viewer will begin to appreciate, this photo series has no linear story. The connection between the images is unusual. It better resembles a wave or a musical composition. For this reason, we might consider this series to be a kind of “visual symphony”.

In contrast, the book format does indeed impose a linear experience on the viewer. That is to say the page position determines the point in time at which the viewer will encounter with a particular photograph. When we experience this linear time we encounter different elements, moods and tones. These are created by the fusion of many images that flow from start to finish.

And definitely, a book has a beginning, middle and end.

About the special edition

This is a limited edition, a signed book. The edition size is only 50 pieces. It has a shell which is a 4 millimeter thin, a concrete slipcase mould with a red paper lining. It is neither too fragile nor too heavy, weighing only 1425 grams. A paper case would be more fragile. The concrete slipcase is solid, protecting the book from physical effects. It is waterproof, oil-proof, UV and radiation resistant. The title of the book can be found as an imprint on the spine.

Technical information

Size: 290 mm x 205 mm (9.84 in. x 8.07 in.)

Print: offset, stochastic screening dots

Paper: matte coated 150 g and double bended pages 170 g

Hard cover at back

56 pages

16 images

Conception and design: Gábor Kasza 

Graphic design: Dániel Kozma, Diaméter Collective

Cast: Emese Cuhorka, Ilka Bardóczy, Árpád Forgó, Gyula Francia,

            Orsolya Kaincz, Anna Kudron, Csaba Molnár, Gáspár Téri, 

As seen in

The campaign goal

This is a fixed goal campaign which means it will only receive funds if at least €7000 is raised until the end of the 45 day campaign. This is the amount that can cover the printing, manufacturing & packaging costs of the minimum production volume.

Team

Special thanks: Judit Gellér, Márk Győri, Christopher Owtram, Mark Richards, Artbázis - Gabi Halász and Marianna Kiss, Meetlab - Biosz and Mátyás Csiszár, S'39 Hybrid Design Manufacture - Anna Baróthy and Bálint Tóth, Tripont kft - Péter Peti, 

There are framed works as well however the concept of the exhibited version is not exactly  the same.

Please, help us to share and spread it. We really need publicity for the success of this project. We love the articles about it or a social media post  ( Instagram, Facebook etc. ) Feel free to share this webpage with your colleagues, friends or anybody who might be in for a concrete book.

If you have any questions or need further information, please don't hesitate to contact me. info[at]gaborkasza.com

Thank you for your support!