What exactly is the tactile, in a world in which a rising technocracy exploits the designed environment we feel? Who authorises and who writes, what tradition do we stand in and how can we touch base?

After endlessly hearing that Onomatopee publications have a materiality and tactility not often experienced in recent years, Onomatopee director and curator Freek Lomme decided to create an exhibition and publication addressing the issue of tactility and print today, accommodated by the Frans Masereel Centre and Z33. Presenting artists in the practice of making and thinkers in the development of thought here and now, we connect to tactile characteristics, guided by a specific focus on graphic, printed matter.

The lasting result is a palm-sized book jam-packed with information and ideas on the subject. Six contemporary artists and eight international academics and authors in the field of graphic design, materiality, theory and art explore how, in the digital age, our daily interaction with physical materials is greatly altered and how this affects us as humans.

Editor: Freek Lomme
Artists and authors: Lars Bang Larsen (DK), Sema Bekirovic (NL), Matthieu Blanchard (FR), Christopher Breu (US), Lieven De Boeck(BE), Johanna Drucker (US), Frederic Geurts (BE), Alessandro Ludovico (IT), Esther Krop / De Monsterkamer (NL), Ulrike Mohr (DE), Thomas Rentmeister (DE), Rik Peters (NL), Marieke Sonneveld (NL)