Kalumet contains Giuseppe Ungaretti’s hermetic poems and “prayer” and five particular geographical maps of the earth: Oceania/Australia, Europe, North America, Africa, and the Atlantic. The “maps” are printed with white ink on black Sumi-painted Japanese papers. Each map shows one particular moment of a day with all civil aircraft in flight at that moment. Thousands of tiny shapes represent aircrafts captured from flight radar and positioned based on flight records. On the previous page of each map are printed two numbers: 1. how many aircraft are in flight 2. how many languages are spoken in that area of the earth. The number of languages spoken seems to be inversely proportional to the number of aircraft.

The more we fly the more our languages disappear.

Where money moves the variety of all cultural goods fades: food, fashion, daily life, thinking, and even philosophy is homogenized, with access for everybody.

To turn it positive: in Kalumet, images of nature on thin Nepal Paper for each “chapter” give space for our imagination to remember the beauty of our planet. So do Ungaretti’s poems for the culture of men.

Maps: atsusumpittura and letterpress. Text: letterpress. Subhead pages and images: letterpress. Subhead pages: hand-made extreme lightweight Nepal Papers. Binding by Thomas Zwang, Hamburg, leather spine, embossed. Spine: light handmade Nepal Paper. Comes in black slipcase.

Edition of 24 numbered copies and 4 e.a. copies, signed