Thanks Anna Pahissa!

• Synchrodogs 2011, Synchrodogs
• Nude Sensitivity, Sasha Kurmaz
• Nodoby is nowhere, Lara Alegre
• Orgy, Steingrim Veum

When we attend to fairs, a lot of people asks us for our catalogue. We never had published any catalogue as we couldn’t spend money doing it, so we have decided to create a digital Atem Books catalogue.

Besides this, recording videos of the books has obliged us to see the books again (and we totally love them!), page after page. We think Multimedia catalogues are the best way to give people the most accurate information about the real books.

We’ve uploaded some of these videos to youtube:

Le tissage de la forêt, Cendrine Rovini

We are blind people made of colors, Emma Llensa

After the wind, Li Hui

• Diari de Girona, “Una editorial de La Bisbal d’Empordà publica el primer llibre de fotografies per a iPad de l’Estat espanyol”, 06/01/2012: http://www.diaridegirona.cat/tecnologia/2012/01/05/editorial-bisbal-publica-llibre-fotografies-ipad-lestat/540332.html
• El Punt Avui, “Un llibre de fotos per a iPad, des de la Bisbal”, 06/01/2012: http://www.elpuntavui.cat/noticia/article/5-cultura/19-cultura/492676-un-llibre-de-fotos-per-a-ipad-des-de-la-bisbal.html
• Ara Girona, ” Una editorial de la Bisbal publica el primer llibre de fotografies per a iPad de l’Estat, 05/01/2012: http://www.aragirona.cat/noticia/102800/una-editorial-de-la-bisbal-publica-el-primer-llibre-de-fotografies-per-a-ipad-de-lestat
• Ara “Una editorial de la Bisbal publica el primer llibre de fotografies per a iPad de l’Estat”, 05/01/2012: http://www.ara.cat/llegim/Atem_Books-iPad-La_Bisbal_de_l-Emporda-Emma_Llensa-Maria_Cerezo_0_622137917.html
• Totbisbal ”Dues bisbalenques impulsen una editorial que publica llibres per a iPad”, 06/01/2012:  http://www.totbisbal.com/noticies/detallsNoticies.php?pLocalitzacio=1&nIdNoticies=1806

• ACMV (Actual Colors May Vary), November 2011: http://www.actualcolorsmayvary.com/blog/2011/11/atem-books-ubicuo-studio/
• The Youthquake, November 2011: http://the-youthquake.com/2011/11/28/love-editorial-atem-books/
• El Blog de Adolfo “Aplicaciones para iPad: libros de fotografía (2)”, December 2011: http://blogdeadolfo.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/aplicaciones-para-el-ipad-libros-de-fotografia-2/
• Underdogs “Ubicuo Studio. Libros de arte para iPad”, December 2011: http://www.underdogs.es/ubicuo-studio-libros-de-arte-para-ipad/
• Art Sponge “Dreamy Film Photography by Ana Cabaleiro”, January 2012: http://art-sponge.com/2012/01/ana-cabaleiro-2/
• Seeking Magazine “Tusk de Ana Cabaleiro”, January 2012: http://seekingmagazine.com/
• Observatori de l’edició digital “Atem Books publica el primer llibre de fotografies de l’Estat per a iPad”, January 2012: http://beatcat.blogspot.com/2012/01/atem-books-publica-el-primer-llibre-de.html
• Trend Hunter “Dreamy traveler photographer”, January 2012: http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/ana-cabaleiro

We’ve also been working on the “translation” (and we know that a good translator has to deal with a lot of things and, above all, he has to respect a lot of things) of Unlimited Sobrassada, the print book, into a Multimedia book for iPad. We had to re-think again the book and give it a new meaning, a new way of showing the poems,… Maria Cerezo, our Multimedia Screenwriter, created a storyboard of the Application. This storyboard not only explains how the navigation of the book will be, but also what the developer, Marc “Nkm” Guardiola had to develop. It’s a team work and we really enjoy doing it.

At this moment, Cristòfol Pons, the illustrator of Unlimited Sobrassada, is creating a video with a friend of his for the Application. In this video we’ll be able to see Cristòfol Pons painting a drawing in a big wall. Besides, on 12th January we’ll be in Barcelona recording Jaume C. Pons Alorda reciting poems in emblematical places.

nofound_photofair, the contemporary photography fair in Paris will be held between 11 and 14 November. More info at their website: nofoundphotofair.com

The video we will be showing is this one:

Atem Books birds 2009-2011 from Atem Books on Vimeo.

Other blogs & online curators selected:

• Banana Leaves (web)
• Blood of the Young Zine (web)
• Dirty Style (web)
• Disturber Magazine (web)
• Girlcore Magazine (web)
• Hope and Anchor (web)
• I like this Blog! (web)
• Lay Flat (web)
• Notcommonpeople (web)
• All of This Rocket Science (web)
• Romka Magazine (web)
• Self Publish Be Happy (web)

María & Emma – Atem Books – by Tamara Jiménez

(translated by Atem Books)

This is how starts an article in which Atem Books editors explain their experiences. They are Maria (from Málaga) and Emma (from Girona). I met Maria because she and my sister attended together to High School at the Art School San Telmo (Málaga). After they finished High School I found that Maria went to live to Girona. And later my sister explains me that Carpaccio Magazine Issue #1 is out. The idea of an online magazine seemed great to me, but the best was still to come: Carpaccio Magazine ends up being printed. I didn’t know how they did that, but almost before I could realize from that, I found that they have created a publishing house in which they design, print and bind the publications… And the best of this is that their project is going great! Nowadays, it seems that ideas like these are impossible to achieve. And we’re used to blame the crisis for everything. Yet, is the crisis responsible for our lack of dareness? Maybe we are guilty for our fear of failing. How many times have Emma and Maria failed? How many times have they thought to throw the towel in? Let’s ask them!

1. Little Bit Magazine:  How did you have the idea of creating Carpaccio Magazine? How many time did it take to you to publish the first issue?

Atem Books: It was at midday, in kitchen’s table. Emma was about to leave to University and said: “Why don’t we create a magazine?” and then she left. That afternoon she didn’t listened to class – if she did any time!-, instead she drafted some ideas about the magazine. The next days the idea evolved in Maria’s and Emma’s heads. The idea matured completely in a trip we did to Valencia. When we came back from that trip -after filling 4 spreads of a notebook with possible names for the magazine- we decided that the magazine would be called Carpaccio Magazine. Then everything was about starting the project: creating the website, the first call for submissions, our hysterical reaction when we received the first e-mail from a collaborator,

Since we had the idea we need one month and a half to launch the first issue:

The idea (end of february 2009) -> deciding which lines we would take (illustration, photography) -> creating the website (launched on 5th March 2009) -> call for submissions -> inviting artists we loved -> 1st Issue published (14th April 2009)

2. LBM: Why creating a magazine like this?

Atem Books: Yet, why did we started Carpaccio Magazine? We wanted to break the circle. Or we wanted to create another circle (but an open one, a really open circle). We were fed up of being outside the circle. Often in the art world -and, why don’t say it, often in this little giant country in which we live called Spain where is better to have 2 contacts than to have 300 points of experience and wisdom-, often in the world we live in, built step after step, brick after brick, by ourselves, we tend to get closed. We tend, without wanting it -and without being aware of it- to keep closed inside ourselves and inside our tribu. Who’s not part of the tribu is rejected. And to be accepted and get into the circle… who knows what you’ll have to do. We never tried this before, so we don’t know what you have to do. We prefer living marginalized rather than joining the circle. We had a proactive attitude – so we decided to create a project from scratch. An open project in which everyone could participate. A tolerant, ethical and free project. Something “normal”!

3. LBM: When did you see that was a feasible idea to print Capraccio Magazine?

Atem Books: To tell the truth, the original idea of Carpaccio Magazine already contained both on-line and printed versions. We had a clear idea that we would print a Carpaccio Magazine version every 3 on-line issues. This printed version would be as a Guide/Catalogue where we could find emerging artists. It was also thought as a source of inspiration for other artists. So “Carpaccio Guide to emerging illustrators, photographers & artists” was born. But it was really difficult. We didn’t find a place to print it. We didn’t find printers at a “normal” (affordable for us and for the buyers) price. There is a day we always will remember. This day is called “The day Emma believed that printing a single copy of Carpaccio Guide costed 1000€”. That day Emma’s heart stopped for a few seconds, then it started to beat really fast and then she became white for a long moment… Since then, every time something like this happens (Emma gets scared a priori) we start laughing and saying “like the day Emma believed that the Guide costed 1000€”. Well, at the end we find a place to print it. It was a really expensive place and we lost a lot of money, but we could print the first Guide and publish it in June 2009, as we promised to our collaborators.

4. LBM:  How many times have you thought about throwing the towel in? What made you go ahead with the project?

Atem Books: There has been times in which irrationality has installed herself inside our minds (well, the same irrationality that has let us keep on with the project) – this irrationality has made us think that our lives could be better without Carpaccio Magazine and Atem Books. When you see you don’t have time to spend with friends, that your middays are passed in the post office instead of being eating at home, that your weekends are made of updating websites and replying to e-mails instead of being at the beach, the mountains,… well, these times maybe you can feel a little sad.

A really hard moment we had was when we thought that we had to give up the project. This was when we miscalculated the price of how much ink a printer uses, when we printed the magazine at home (as a fanzine), we spent (or wasted!) a lot of money that was impossible to get back. When we realized of this, that we had spent all the money we had with the printer and the ink -which is like gold!-, we thought we had to stop this project. That day we sent to sleep really sad thinking that this trip was over. Over. But the next day we kept on. We didn’t know we would do it, how we could create a profitable project, a project which could survive alone -without our money spent all the time. But we kept on. I think that if we have kept on when we have had problems is because we have a really huge willing of “keeping on”. It seems that something is pushing us – maybe it’s Schopenhauer’s willing or something similar. It is something like antinihilism. And ourselves wanting to build something fruitful, something useful, beautiful… something to believe in. Something which depends on us. I believe is our willing to be free, independent – or something like this. I don’t know, it’s hard to describe it.

5. LBM:  How was Atem Books born?

Atem Books: Atem Books was born in one of these magical nights we had when we lived in Firenze in 2009 :) No, to be serious: it was born naturally -as a need of growing up, of being involved in amazing but sometimes “lost in the web” projects. We were really fans of Li Hui‘s work (the first Atem Books project) and of Danny Mendoza‘s drawings – so we said “Why there aren’t any books of their works? Let’s publish them!” So we did a selection of some artists we knew through Carpaccio Magazine and started to work. This way Atem Books was born as a Carpaccio Magazine evolution.

6. LBM: Which are the main problems you’ve had and how you solved them?

Atem Books: the first (and it’s always the same) problem is the economical one. We were passing through a delicate economic situation -well, we’ve been always like this! how yummy are potatoes cooked in the microwave!- but we couldn’t stop risking. Everytime we attend to a fair we have to pay a lot of money – normally we don’t get back all the money invested, but we attend anyway! Because we’ll do whatever it takes as we believe in what we do. Difficulties make us smarter and make us look for solutions and resources. To tell the truth, we’ve always thought that if everything was too easy, it wouldn’t be so funny.

The second problem is time! As we have already said in other interviews, we’re only 2 people (2 people who also work outside the publishing house and 2 people who’re studying, etc.). People sometimes ask us “How do you do all this?” and we reply “Well, how we could not do this?” ;)

7. LBM: How is the creation process of an Atem Books’s publication? How the projects reach you?

Atem Books: Usually, we go to the projects. I mean, one day a little light inside our minds turns on and say “let’s print a book of this person’s work”. And then we send this person an e-mail. And we are afraid because we think they will say no. And then they say yes. And then we send the book to the printer. And then we’re afraid of the artist reaction. And then… this is how we live, with the nervous of someone who wants to do something in a really special and perfect way.

We manage the projects in different ways: there are artists who want to design and layout their own books (Synchrodogs, Sasha Kurmaz, for instance). Other artists are really afraid of making their own selection of artworks and ask us to do it. The longer and more elaborated projects we have had are the poetry ilustrated books. In these projects we’ve had a constant communication with the illustrator. In the Úrsula Brage & Emma Llensa book Maria acted 100% as an editor. She directed the project and her participation was really important for the book’s coherence.

We always want the artist to feel really free to tell us whatever he/she wants. There are certain things we can’t offer because we don’t have a really huge economical background, but we always try to satisfy the artists desires.

8. LBM: Future plans for Carpaccio Magazine and Atem Books?

Atem Books: hmm, I don’t know,… this is a secret. We’re now in a really great project – parallel to Atem Books (but really related to it). A project which can open us more possibilities. We can’t say anything right now. But it will be really cool!

As a non-profit organization we want to offer our publishing services to artists.

9. LBM: Which advices would you give to people who want to start a trip like yours?

Atem Books: Enthusiasm. Perseverance. But, above all, a very good mood. People are indispensable. An unknown, not-loved project is like a non-existent project. You have to go out to the world and explain what you do.

10. LBM: Where can we find you?

Atem Books: Atem Books is based in a little town (10,000 inhabitants) in the north of Catalunya called La Bisbal d’Empordà (more known as the Costa Brava area). We have a really big space where we stock the books and where we have the computers, etc.

Maurizio Di Iorio, Disturber Magazine

“I’ve written it already, if you consider Tania Shcheglova and Roman Noven (the duo from Ukraine, also known as Synchrodogs.com) just fashion photographers, you’re off the mark: their production is the result of a raw and authentic inspiration, capable of crushing a big slice of today’s fashion photography – for the originality of the mise-en-scène, for their choice of subjects and for the absolutely first class experimental and visual tension. In their pictures, you’ll never see the usual innocuous pretty girls lying on sofas or meadows, where everything is motionless as if in fake contemplation; you’ll find instead an ocean of surreal and oneiric suggestions, a rock of stratifications and superimpositions of harmony and chaos. Fashion magazines’ photo-editors are taking a nap and perhaps in a few years will recognize the visionary power of these two photographers – with the exception of Neon Magazine’s Amélie Schneider who has decided to give them the cover and a feature in the October issue.”

The event was great, Pau Garcia-Milà, Eye OS co-founder was there and explained some great anecdotes on being a young enterpreneur in Spain. His sincere speech really liked us. There’s a lack of sincerity, sometimes, in this area (business). We really enjoyed listening to him as, somehow, we also feel like enterpreneurs. The mainly difference is that we don’t make millions and that we’re a non-profit organization. But we can also speak about financial problems, moments of desperation and frustration and how difficult it is in Spain to create a project and make it survive without any external money (it is, without grants and without having any debts with the bank!).

Some photos of the event:

Going to Olot, where the event was held.

An old friend who also received an award!

People loves Orgy by Steingrim Veum

Showing Atem Books publications! :D

Maria selling Atem Books publications to a teacher she had when she studied Illustration in Olot.

Little big press is an exhibition created to take stock of the trends that are changing radically the world of photography. An increasingly vitality moves the evolution of the photographic book in an independent direction, self-produced and reduced in scale: self-publishing and independent photo books, fanzines and small publisher are increasingly active and prolific in the world.
Little big press has become not only an annual-based exhibition, but also a travelling library and a specialized corner within Officine Fotografiche. For the 2011 edition, Little big press will take place in two locations, devoting a special focus on Japan, thanks to a collaboration between Fotoleggendo and FotoGrafia – International Festival of Rome.
At ISA, on the occasion of the 2° edition, Little big press keeps expanding the research on the most interesting realities in the world of photobook publishing, with a special attention on what produced in 2010 and 2011 and a print on demand catalogue.
At Macro Testaccio, for FotoGrafia – International Festival of Rome, Little big press presents Focus on Japan, a selection of the best Japanese photobooks of 2010 - 2011, together with Mizu no oto - Sound of water exhibition, curated by 3/3 in dialogue with Rinko Kawauchi.

More info at FotoLeggendo website.

Atem Books will show and sell there some of the last published zines: Nude Sensitivity by Sasha Kurmaz, I’ll be Your New York by Lena Aliper, Emilie Björk by Emilie Björk, Levan Kakabadze by Levan Kakabadze and Bees made honey in the lion’s skull by Enrico Pitzianti.