Thus Spoke Zarathustra became the book Reza Abedini would carry everywhere with him. A compact, hard-cover edition in Farsi, the little black book contains all five parts of Nietzsche’s most curious philosophical parabolas, in tight rows of Persian script. Zarathustra has fed directly into Abedini’s graphic design work, explicitly or implicitly, for years. With this artist’s book, he is, in a sense, going back to the source, offering a visual interpretation of Nietzsche’s seminal text with a series of prints first started almost 20 years ago. Through them, Abedini traces his connection to this book through time, to Iranian and religious symbols, and to the visual Western world that continues to dominate Art History.

If we listen to Zarathustra’s preaching, then this life is all that we have, and there is nothing else. In Abedini’s prints, riddled with symbolism, references, and a sarcastic bite, we can discover a fragment of what this life consists of.

The book run consists of 40 special editions, signed by the artist and numbered. It includes 20 silkscreens of the illustrations in the book, a commemorative box, and an authentication certificate.

Vision and Concept Reza Abedini
Direction Abed Alkadiri
Design Diana Abou Dakka
Project Assistants Zeina Chamseddine & Laura Trad

Silkscreens
Silkscreens production Salim Samara
Paper Accademia Bianco Fabriano 300grm
Dimensions 52×45 cm
signed and numbered by the artist

Limited edition book
Printing and Production Sakkoo Platform
Paper Pindo Card, White, 280gsm
Binding Rozbeh Zabihian
Dimensions 52×45 cm

Texts
English Translation Ashkan Zarael
German Copyediting Aurelia Amrou
Chinese Copyediting Layal Housseiki
Arabic translation, copyediting Mariam Janjelo