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Every week we make a 16-page mini-magazine.

Desk Notes

Issue #115

Posted on by Dipika Kohli

DK’s internet-based conversation in one of our online circles is happening, and it’s about ‘Beauty.’

In our innermost circles of S P A C E we explore together topics like: the Japanese idea of ‘shibui’; everydayness; street museums; simple materials; and, of course, the meaninglessness and absurdity as well as profundity of being-here, itself.

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A Philosophy of the Moment · Papers

Issue #114

Posted on by Dipika Kohli

Celebrating zines, and zine culture,  we participate *today* in the Festival of the Photocopier in Melbourne. Naturally, we wanted to showcase and highlight the work of a prolific zinester and highly creative thinker, Abdul Dube. Four of us collaborated across four countries, and two timezones, over a half-year, in S P A C E to make this issue.

It’s called S P A C E | Aarhus, ‘The Glitch.’

It’s part of a series to come.

A new series on ‘Decolonization’

 

Here’s why. Making a magazine about things we feel are important to learn and know about, I feel, starts with asking big questions like, ‘Wait. But what’s really going on?’

‘Jump into my time machine and we fast-forward to today, and where I find myself with [the work of] collection, promoting and archiving zines, from all over the globe. I found more curious folks doing what they do, loving it still, hunting down Xerox machines and producing . We’re getting closer and closer to the decolonial approach I am on right now… making and ‘handing over’ these tools to youth is vital to its survival. Even though the zine is ephemeral, the idea of self-creating independently of rules lives on in the personal that has something to say, and, importantly, something to express.’ –Abdul Dube, zinemaker and contributing S P A C E art director, is the featured artist for this week’s issue.

Collaborators for S P A C E | Aarhus, ‘The Glitch’ include:

  • Artist and graphic arts facilitator Abdul Dube, who art directed this issue and helped us shape the ‘Decolonization’ series’ concept. His work is on the cover. See https://www.abduldube.nu to learn more about his work. Also instagram.com/dubephotog.
  • Contributing S P A C E thinker, researcher, and writer Michael Tharamangalam.
  • Co-founding S P A C E editor, Michael Bridgett, Jr., whose story, ‘How Can I Decolonize Myself’ is a marvelous, timely, and informative read. More about Mike’s work is at http://mikedynamo.wordpress.com and instagram.com/mikedynamo.
  • DK’s Creative Director Dipika Kohli.

Find S P A C E | Aarhus, ‘The Glitch’ in our online shop.

Here’s a link.

http://gum.co/space-aarhus-tg

Thanks.

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A Philosophy of the Moment

Issue #113

Posted on by Dipika Kohli

This week’s issue is inspired by many, many conversations of the variety that those who know me personally know I like to go into. A kind of meander. A peer-to-peer ‘let’s just try this’ jazzy improvisational kind of moment. A flurry of them, occasionally you get those. Snowlike. You see. Even this paragraph is what it feels like, to be with us, when we get together, and talk together. In S P A C E. More of this is on the way but just for those who, well. Show up. I’m tired of trying to get people to ‘see the value’ because f it. I know the value, and that’s enough. So here we are. And here we go.

The next thing you’ll see in S P A C E will be art directed by our 2020 collaborators in S P A C E, AD, MT, and MB. And I’m working on that, today, to get set for sunset viewing at my favorite local.

A good moment.

Knowing what you want, and doing those things. Mind, it took a lifetime to learn my favorite things…

This week, I present, S P A C E | HCMC, ‘More together.’ With a cover image by HN. The words on the cover say ‘Happy New Year,’ as we’ve just seen the amazing celebrations, in a lower key than usual owing to a recent covid outbreak. Seems it’s ‘under control,’ according to the news, so out to the streets, cautiously, we may go.

https://gumroad.com/l/space-hcm-moretogether/

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Found in the Field · The Muse

Mixtape | See you Saturday, maybe

Posted on by Dipika Kohli

Good evening from Ho Chi Minh City, ladies and gentlemen. Let me share with you the mix tape, ‘See you Saturday, maybe,’ featuring a few musicians I’ve gotten to listen to often and sometimes even chat with in real life (remember when that was a thing?) about art, composition, intrigue, and sharing.

Every time I hear the Cambodian mix I feel a little homesick for one of my more recent ‘homes’ (I have a lot), namely Phnom Penh, hence the song I’m including from Justatee about the feeling of wanting to go home. it’s a good mood, suddenly, listening and feeling. Of course I have to end it all with Punjabi tunes.

Since I’m big into relational aesthetics, I have to acknowledge all the people I was thinking about while making this. HT PS, over in Chandigarh, or?, somewhere thereabouts. Mixtape, ‘See you Saturday, maybe!’, dedicated to my friends NDS, aka DNLD on Soundcloud. And VT. Cool. Thanks, too, for MM for inspiring me lately. And of course MD and AM for always listening when I need to talk. And CS. Gosh. I have a lot of people I can count on in these difficult times. Lucky me. Special thanks of course to Boss. And SJ, who told me to blog more and write what I think, which I appreciate. Though he probably isn’t reading this, I want to say, ‘I hope you are safe, there.’
Desk Notes · Found in the Field · Papers

Issue #110

Posted on by Dipika Kohli

Celebrating journeys, waiting, sharing, spacemaking, discovery and the place where I am right now…

This issue is dedicated to Atelier S P A C E // HCMC Creative Lead Van Tran, and to S P A C E contributing member Kan Tomizawa.

Both brought to light many facets of the reality of simply slowing down, waiting for things to arrive, and letting yourself disengage from the Western intellectual’s drive to ‘be productive.’ That doesn’t always lead to anything, and sometimes, simply waiting… does, and can.

 

Chủ đề..

What’s this issue about?

Waiting.

From September-December 2020 in Atelier S P A C E projects in Ho Chi Minh City, Tran’s direction brought us to new places in S P A C E that involve slowing down and noticing that which surrounds us. In conversations in Phnom Penh in 2015 or so, plus continuations in the virtual spaces since then, it was Tomizawa’s dialogues with DK about ideas related to art, making it, and not getting too worried about what happens between now and later that led to the title for this piece: ‘Kekka ga ato kara tsuite kuru.’

Time. Slowness.

Waiting.

That’s the theme, for this week’s issue of S P A C E.

Order this week’s issue..

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'S' is for Sincerity

Issue #109

Posted on by Dipika Kohli

This issue of S P A C E, I wanted to gather my feelings and share them straight up, as you know is my style, with Kismuth Books if you’ve read any of them.

Whether it’s Finland, Latvia, or right here, I usually wind up finding my way when I talk to everyone: especially neighbors. This doesn’t always go so well, me asking lots of questions and trying to understand the feeling of a place.

Many times someone new will say,’ Oh, you’re a writer? So you’re gonna write about meeee?’

So arrogant.

I told T. today (hi!) that this is not the case. It will take me being interested in someone, first of all. I am hardly interested in most people. I’d say 99 out of 100 people are not interesting to me. So, there’s that. Then, I will try to understand the person, and share, too. Our mutually discovered complexities, loves, pains, joys, and… our feelings.

I want to exchange and feel; and learn together, with them. This can happen, sometimes, too. I’m lucky when it can and does.

 

New thinking is key to innovating brightly

Neighbors go about with their day to day routines and I try to make one for myself, but it gets difficult as time wears me out and I begin to long for, and feel very far from what is familiar and comfortable, like having the same slang of English, for example, or understanding the creative process in the way West Coast US people do–

[for example, here’s a quick aside…

Civil engineers are problem solvers. But problems can come in many shapes and sizes. For many, the problem-solving process can be stunted by self-imposed constraints. To spark new ideas, engineers must break the mold of conventional thinking. Instead, they must take on a more human-centered approach, embrace change, and eliminate any preconceptions. More here

…. I’m a civil engineer by training, architect and journalist by work experience and a designer and publisher now because that’s what I like doing….. ]

and being open to things like travelers I found on the road (in 27 countries). Most especially influential were the ones In India, late 1990s, who left ways of thinking about things with me that I still reflect on. ‘You don’t know what a trip is about,’ for example, ‘until you’re back from it.’

I’m not back.

This is the longest solo trip of my entire life.

 

And now I’ll make S P A C E more, virtually

[deleted]

I try to talk to neighbors, but it’s complex.

[deleted]

The pandemic is hard. Let’s talk about it. Let’s explore.

Together. Join S P A C E to get started. See ‘membership’ tab at http://gumroad.com/designkompany

 

Order S P A C E | HCMC, ‘Sneeze’

This week’s issue is in our store.

Here’s a link.

https://gumroad.com/designkompany

Thanks.

'S' is for Sincerity · Publisher's Diary · Stories · The Muse

Why make S P A C E?

Posted on by Dipika Kohli
Design Kompany’s first office in Seattle, shared space with one of our our clients D+A Studio. Photos by Laura Totten, this was a setup for ‘Dazzle,’ a show of her work at our space. Great moment. Great memories. // Seattle, 2006

We started this studio, DK, in 2006 in Seattle.

So many changes in the way the internet, and the world, is ‘[deleted]… and DeBord’s Society of the Spectacle has *happened*.

Hijacking real life with portrayals of faked imagery.

[deleted]

That’s why I do this. That’s why, with a few friends, I make S P A C E.

[deleted]…  and why do they do that? Seriously, why? I’ve thought about this. In the era of hijacked reality by the fakers, it’s easier to pretend to be someone *amazing* than it is to… actually *be* amazing. Which means, be who you really are.

 

 

Always listening, questioning..

New angles, new perspectives, new thinking could be found in the places where normally you don’t read about, or go. Like Latvia, or something like that, you know Northern Finland. Or Vietnam, where I am writing from. The next issue of S P A C E (pictured above) will tell you what I found out on my personal journeys in 2018, 2019, and 2020 in those countries talking my way around the world. And I’ll interweave them, in a short dialogue about… conversations with neighbors.

Yeah. Because, well. I talk to everyone. Ysually it’s really boring and I get sleepy. But sometimes… something happens, and you hear a magic quote.

Listening out for this is my gig.

Sure, it’s taken years to find out how to do that. Four years in newspapers, for example, and bunches of listening to many people I meet. This kind of striking-up of conversations takes practice of its own kind. I’m not always into the idea, but sometimes I do it. I met two people like that today (HT A. and T.. have fun on that trip!) And… caring about that effort that goes into you know, what we used to do, writers, field reporting. You go there. You look. You listen. Then you start to write down what you read, feel, hear, and see. Photos, and writings, and more. Seeing seeing. With time. Going slowly. Next stop for me? Dunno. Maybe Hanoi, again. Maybe somewhere new.

Around the turn of 2019 into 2020, I was in Malaysia. I was debating where to go next. Then I moved back to Cambodia. Lots happened and I’m in Vietnam now. I’ve had some time. Time to call up from the old archives some mind maps and other things about ‘what is S P A C E.’ Mostly it’s about doing what feels like the right thing to be doing; wherever I am, at that moment.

Sometimes it’s Soundcloud: I made this thing, ‘Hi2’, at that time, while parked for a moment in Kuala Lumpur. In that city’s borrowed apartment, one of just a dozen or more in the years I’ve been in southeast Asia, I closed my door and typed, real fast. And thought about what I wanted to do, with S P A C E. Who did I want to meet?

A few people.

Who also.

Care about.

What I do.

Hardly anyone, but okay, cool.
From the Soundcloud, ‘Hi2’…
The idea was to show up, see what happens, and make something cool together.
S P A C E probes deeply in order to look for the new…
Meaningfully, not trivially….
…
How things will go from here is anybody’s guess..
We are awaiting a new chapter…
…

Let’s make meaning?

Let’s converse

Here’s how..