Monochromator #1
155 x 235 mm, 146 pages
Berlin & Seoul (English-language)
First published 2024
Editor-in-chief: Alex Heeyeon Kil
Design: Cleo Tew & Alex Walker, with assistance from June Yang
Monochromator is a smart new addition to our cinema shelf. Each issue deconstructs selected films under a shared monochrome—or a single shared theme—to reconstruct them for social relevance. They put the cinematic, the cultural, the artistic and the political in dialogue.
The first issue reflects on the media and meme cultural event that was ‘Barbenheimer,’ the 2023 dual premiere of two seemingly opposite films ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer.’ However, Monochromator is here to point out how the two films share more similarities than differences, especially in the grander context of the United States’ post-WWII rebirth.
Divided into three parts—Refraction, Wavelength, and Interference—this inaugural issue explores the birth of a nation, invented places, American existentialism, radioactive fallout and its effect on indigenous peoples, and the making of a Hollywood blockbuster.