Newspeak: British Art Now

2009
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
The Saatchi Gallery, London

Catalogue for Newspeak, an exhibition of contemporary British art held at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and The Saatchi Gallery, London. The bilingual design of the catalogue, draws inspiration from the title of the exhibition. playing with the idea of censorship and identity.

The artworks are placed opposite disruptive graphics. The end pages are a manifestation of infinite government mathematical calculations. The pages feature myriad crossings out. The section dividers use quotes from George Orwell’s 1984, rendered illegible by crossing out and overlaying. The cover glows in the dark with the shape of a polonium atom. The radioactive substance allegedly used to poison Alexander Litvinenko the former Russian secret service officer granted asylum in the UK.

Despite opposition from The Hermitage to the design, it became one of their best selling catalogues of all time.