Télévision #1
We always strive for a global mix of magazines here on the Journal but as we reach the final days of a miserable EU referendum campaign we’ll be celebrating a selection of titles from our European neighbours; with many indie mags already on a shoestring budget the idea that it might be costlier to import and export their creations is a real threat. Today we head to France and a brand new magazine that relishes the visual language of television.
The first thing to say, is Télévision is not a magazine of writing. This is a purely visual treat, a fascinating mix of visual storytelling and fashion photography. From the first spread the TV references abound, with testcard patterns (above) a regular motif.
The TV references continue as the grid structures of magazine layout and TV edit suite collide in the following spreads (above, below);
The cover image repeats, a back-to-back pose echoing TV presenter’s publicity shots (above), while the close up opposite it has a feel of the TV interviewer playing interview hardball.
TV Shopping channels are parodied (above, below), and elsewhere the models are seen being made up and standing in front of a green screen as if ready for special effects to be added later.
The issue is interrupted in the centre by a section of advertising, the paper stock shifting from matt to super-gloss (below).
On the immediate spread following the advertising, the model-presenters appear with sarcasticly arched eyebrows (below), as if the director has switched back to the live TV studio to find them doubting the content of the publicité. The issue has been carefully storyboarded to tell a story in this way, each part responding to previous parts. And along the way, the clothes are fully credited – in the end this is a fashion magazine, with contributions from photographers Boris Camaca and Maxime Guyon and video-maker Ethan Assouline (best known for his work with Paris design collective Vetements).
Télévision is a delightful example of a type of conceptual publication we’re seeing more and more of at the moment; visual entertainments that reference found photography as much as more orthodox forms of art, fashion and advertising photography. It owes plenty to Useful Photography (above) and Toilet Paper, but has a more of a sense of storytelling than both.
Editor-in-chief: André Voland
Art direction: Hugo Blanzat, Boris Camaca and Mathieu Rocolle