The Bolted Book Facsimile: An Exact Copy of Depero Futurista
By Furtunato Depero | Price TBD
Designers & Books has launched a Kickstarter to publish a new facsimile edition of “Depero Futurista” (“Depero the Futurist”), which is considered the first modern-day artist’s book. Known as “The Bolted Book” because of its famous binding using two aluminum industrial bolts, “Depero Futurista” is a visual masterpiece comprising innovative typographic experiments and bold explorations in nearly every art and design medium, including advertising and the form of the book itself.
The book was created by the Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero in 1927 as both a platform for his work and a collection of his radical ideas. These ideas predicted, by almost a century, an approach to design and the creation of art that are ever present in the modern world—from the breaking down of barriers between fine art and popular culture, to an emphasis on working across multiple disciplines, and the need for artists and designers to self-promote.
The facsimile edition of “Depero Futurista” will be produced in collaboration with the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART), which houses the Depero archives, and the Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA) in New York, which featured The Bolted Book as a centerpiece of its celebrated 2014 inaugural exhibition devoted to Depero. The 1927 Bolted Book Facsimile will be an exact copy of the original “Depero Futurista,” and will include a soft cover Reader’s Guide featuring English translations of key elements of the book; essays by Depero scholars and curators that examine the book’s design legacy; a selection of previously unpublished photographs and drawings; correspondence from the Depero archives at the MART; and a special acknowledgments page with the names of the Kickstarter supporters.
Each page of The Bolted Book can currently be viewed online at boltedbook.com. The status and details of the Kickstarter campaign are available at kickstarter.com/projects/1204158310/the-bolted-book-facsimile-an-exact-copy-of-depero.
