condition: good, minor edge wear, binding intact.

A social documentary. An appropriation of distinctions between elements. Grey area. An essay in images that repeat themselves. An apparent way to dilute the importance of one over another. Black and white photographs, hand written texts, and xeroxed pages.

This issue of Condiment has reminded us of the simple truth that we are living with food, not living for food. In this context, the aim shifts from accomplishment to a need for further exploration. Ideas and approaches to food have never seemed so evolved and exaggerated. Yet, as the focus on the meal continues to increase, we risk forgetting about all the hours of living that exist in between. Rather than only being an object of desire, food needs also to be a subject of discussion—approached not as a statement about politics, provenance or proficiency, but as an open-ended question mark. In some form or another, we hope that each page of this issue raises questions —not just about what food is, but about what it can be. After all, each meal is both an outcome and a new beginning.

Produced in collaboration with BLESS. Images from their collection BLESS N° 42, Plädoyer der Jetztzeit appear on each page of the publication.

Heralded as one of fashion’s most innovative designers, the Paris and Berlin-based duo BLESS (Désirée Heiss and Ines Kaag) refuse to capitalize on any one milieu, and instead explore the differences between and the mixing of the systems of art, fashion, and design. This book brings together visual and written documentation of BLESS’s last twelve collections (N° 30-N° 41), continually prompting and challenging the question of where a product begins and ends. Their latest project, N° 41 Retroperspective Home, culminates in an exhibition / intervention of the same title at the Kunsthaus.” The hybrid nature of [BLESS’s] output cries out to be tackled by an institution like ours,” state the curators of the exhibition,” but at the same time makes it very difficult to do so … This is precisely where the challenge of our exhibition lies, seeing art as design and fashion as architecture.”

condition: very good, shelf wear.

Bernadette Corporation: three people in New York City (today, 1999, or 2000) working together on a new fashion magazine called Made In USA and making art. We came from different backgrounds, but we had something in common: we wanted to change the world because we didn’t like the way it was.

The first issue of Made in USA is devoted to how people create their own spaces, spaces that can be invisible or imaginary. You may have heard this trend called DIY (do-it-yourself) or Amateurism. We like to call it the EMPTY WIDE SPACE trend, a place we can all disappear to, instead of being anti-everything and writing the new manifesto, or instead of being pro-everything and buying the latest CD.

Bless came to fame in the winter of 97/98, when the models of a Martin Margiela fashion show wore Bless wigs made out of fur. Heralded as one of fashion’s most innovative designers, the Paris and Berlin-based duo (Desiree Heiss and Ines Kaag) quickly refused to capitalize on one milieu. Constantly investigating the boundaries of style, Bless slides from fashion to beauty, interior decoration to art exhibition, collaboration with other brands to stylized advertising. Their production, which sits on the fine line between art object and design, high function and high fashion, is always unique and marked by the recycling and adaptation of unexpected items put to use in a totally new way.

Designed by Manuel Raeder, this fully illustrated book features for the first time the wide range of Bless’ activity and documents a unique mode of cultural production.

Bless have exhibited internationally at the 1st berlin biennale (1998/99), Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1999), Centre Pompidou (2000), Manifesta 4 (2002), Palais de Tokyo (2003), Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2004), and most recently at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2006). Their collaborations with other brands range from Adidas to Levi’s, Nike, Mikli and Droog over to the jewellery designer Bucherer.