The Ellipsis Foundation for Targeted Publishing

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a group of people with clipboards gathered on a roof among plywood ulm stools and a freestanding purple fabric screen

The Ellipsis Foundation for Targeted Publishing is a public research institution investigating the reinvigoration of an economically sagging print industry via the application of algorithmic content.

In return for submitting their responses to the Ellipsis Foundation data archive, a Participant receives a formulaic depiction of the session’s results: a uniquely assembled book consisting of twelve individual signatures, each delicately sourced from a plotted, multidimensional spectrum of personality, and bound under a generative title applied with a proprietary laser-engraved stamping system.

By exploring one’s targeted reader, one will further come to terms with themself and realize this is a fair exchange for the privacy they have sacrificed by providing the Ellipsis Foundation with their personal data.

The Foundation contracted students at The Werkplaats Typografie to devise its initial content selection comprised of 20 literary excerpts and 20 artbook signatures which correspond to Ellipsis’ proprietary personality spectrum (a system which redevelops medeival humorology). The covers of each book feature unique, 3-word titles generated based on targeting session results and applied using a proprietary laser-engraved stamping system. The Foundation managed to secure a designated corporate sponsorship booth on the roof of the 2024 Printed Matter New York Art Book Fair for the launch of the project.

Book specifications: 23.5 × 16.5cm, 128p. (variable from 640), loop-stitched signatures bound with chicago screw

Co-designers: Mika Kastner Johnson, Vicky Lum, Maxim Preaux

Contributions: Camille Caspersen, Hannes Drißner, Jinhye Lee, Lisa Lagova, Matas Buckus, Nuno Bejinho, Rita Palha Lopes, Tato Greve, Tjaša Cizej, Xiaohan Zhang, Yinuo Xuanyuan, Côme Guérif, Dun Lee, Elias Erkan, Josefina Contin Zapata, Manon Fraser, Maxim Preaux, Mika Kastner Johnson, Nicolai Schmelling, Seda Yıldırım, Sophie Engert, Victoria Lum, and Yang Yaqi

Project coordination and feedback: Anniek Brattinga, So-Yeon Kim, Armand Mevis, and Robert Milne

Special thanks: Platz True Value Hardware of Ridgewood, Printed Matter, Hauser & Wirth

two people seated on stools behind a purple screen conversing closely
a group of people standing in a row at a counter constucting books
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled
a book with a unique 3-word stamped titled