It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. But as images become more and more abundant, and as they are increasingly used as a simple means of communication, a thousand might seem a bit too much. After all, how many words can you find in a thumbs-up emoji? Safelight Paper, this month’s Surprise Subscription pick, is an act of resistance against this cultural decline in photography’s evocative power. Where the emphasis in modern image usage is on speed and convenience, Safelight Paper’s is on slowness and the basic fact that good things always come with time. Operating out of the eponymous Berlin camera store and film laboratory whose slogan is “Shoot Film, Stay Broke”, the magazine actively strives to make pictures worth a thousand words again. More

It’s the height of summer and therefore travel time. And where is the soul – at least, the German soul! – drawn to, if not to Bella Italia? A sun-kissed tapestry of rolling vineyards, ancient olive groves, and cobblestone streets winding like whispered secrets through charming villages… If that was already too many clichés in the first paragraph, just read on, because there’s a whole lot more to our little travel-on-the-mind August edition of our Surprise Subscription. More

Illustration just can’t get respect. Seen as the stuff of children’s movies or as a vehicle for less serious artforms, it is often overlooked in the world of fine art and has little of the capitalist clout of graphic design. Well, we disagree! And in fact what we would like to do now is shine the spotlight on this discipline that’s sometimes left in the shadows. Let’s put illustration center stage, let’s look at FUKT – this month’s Surprise Subscription pick!   More

For the 30th edition of our Surprise Subscription (that’s two and a half years’s worth of Surprises!) we’re throwing it back to the very first installment, with the help of one of our very favourite magazines: the mighty MacGuffin. Born out of boredom with the design world, MacGuffin doesn’t bother with hot trends, “iconic” designs, or an endless stream of new objects: instead, they focus on the wider story of what an object becomes when it enters our day-to-day life, and on what it reveals about us. MacGuffin’s newest issue, ‘The Log’, is both a fascinating counterpoint to and a natural evolution from its previous offerings, which have focused on the already-designed object – the Rug, the Trousers, the Desk, the Cabinet. By contrast, a log is not something one would necessarily consider a design object. At least on first glance. More

After months and months of dark and cold and a general feeling of “meh”, we here at do you read me?! are happy to report that spring has arrived. Let’s celebrate, let’s hit the road, let’s go to Paris! After having focused on cities as far-ranging as Taipei and São Paulo, Flaneur–the legendary travel publication, and this month’s Surprise Subscription pick–is taking on the City of Lights, and the results are honestly exceptional.  More

Im Jahr 2021 hielten Künstlerin, Forscherin und Kuratorin Moshtari Hilal und politische*r Geograf*in Sinthujan Varatharajah einen Vortrag auf Instagram Live, in dem sie über die Ausbreitung der englischen Sprache in Berlin diskutierten. Ob in Cafés oder Restaurants, Museen und Kunsträumen, auf der Straße oder im Bürgeramt, die englische Sprache ist überall präsent - auch in unseren eigenen Newslettern, Rezensionen und sozialen Medien! Es ist einfach eines dieser Dinge, die Berlin seinen kosmopolitischen Glanz verleihen.  Aber es gibt auch eine Kehrseite der Dinge, und die bringen Hilal und Varatharajah in ihrem Vortrag ans Licht, welcher von Wirklichkeit Books in diesem strahlend blauen Reader in eine physische Form gebracht wurde.  More

In 2021, artist, researcher and curator Moshtari Hilal and political geographer Sinthujan Varatharajah held a talk on Instagram Live, where they discussed the prevalence of the English language in Berlin. Whether in cafes or restaurants, museums and art spaces, spoken on the street or in the Bürgeramt, it’s everywhere - also in our own newsletters, reviews and social media! It’s one of the things that gives Berlin its cosmopolitan shine. But there’s another side to things, and this is what Hilal and Varatharajah bring to light in their talk, given physical form by Wirklichkeit Books in this striking blue reader.  More

Take a moment and reflect on what you’ve read today. Now do this again for yesterday and the day before. If you manage to remember anything at all, you might find that the stories you have been reading all seem to gravitate towards one common set of subjects. Most will have probably been pertinent to the current news cycle, while the others will have most likely concerned your own particular field of interests. Which is all fair and square–particularly given the world’s chaotic state of affairs. But where are all the other stories? As beautifully diverse and big our blue and green marbled planet is, there must be more to report and write about than war and scandal, no? More

“Oceans Were The Hottest Ever Recorded in 2022, Analysis Shows”  “Twelve European Countries Broke Temperature Records in 2022”  “Human Toll of Deadly US Storm Grows in ‘Blizzard of the Century’” As much as we here at do you read me?! believe in the power of positive thinking, it is a difficult thing to do when these are just a sampling of headlines from the past few weeks. To be sure, when confronted with the cold hard reality of an era of environmental crisis and geopolitical instability, it sometimes feels as if the simplest tasks require a healthy dose of courage, resignation, and gumption. All of these mounting anxieties need to be assuaged; and the only thing that can do it is…perhaps a new handbag. Or maybe those nice boots you have had your eyes on? Or why not an entirely new wardrobe!   More

What does the word “nature” mean to you? It may conjure up images of lush, rolling fields, rushing rivers or impenetrable woods. You’re probably not picturing many people or buildings, and it’s likely that the colour green features prominently.  The third issue of Hinterlands magazine takes as its starting point a similar thought exercise. The introductory note from editors Hanna Döring, Freia Kuper and Maike Suhr invites the reader to visualise a meadow - and immediately bursts this idyllic, imaginary bubble to point out that “nature” as we often think of it is a fiction. More

As humble booksellers who watch the holiday season unfold from behind a cash register, we here at do you read me?! would be among the first to agree that the holidays have become less about celebrating religious or social events and more about the arrival of a certain rotund figure in a pretty far out red suit. Indeed, each passing December seems to reaffirm the free market’s unfettered socio-cultural ascent–which is good news for fans of money, stuff, and the pursuit of money to buy stuff; and bad news for fans of, say, the planet or human rights. After all, society can’t be too social if we are all collectively staring into the void of Black Friday sales on our non-fair trade iPhones. More

We all know that you can’t judge a book by its cover. A book’s design, though, is an entirely different matter. Everything that goes into the physical creation of a book reflects its contents to a certain degree: romance novels are printed on trashy paper with even trashier imagery for good reason; and it is by no means arbitrary that gilded pages are found in Bibles or that lush paper and fine ink are used for the exhibition catalogues one finds at museums like the Louvre. The medium is the message, or at least a key part of it. This is certainly the case with isolarii–our November Surprise Subscription pick. More