These are the first three issues of N O R M A L S — the books! “What’s that weird black prism?” you might ask. Well. To put it simply: it’s everything we’ve done during the years 2012 to 2013, every little experiment, design, app, or piece, that acts as a gateway to a greater storyline — may it be speculative communication protocols, parametric typography, or even augmented reality apparel connected to one’s online data. From the very beginning, our intention with merging anticipatory writings and fictional designs was to cast our own web of future explorations, where the economic, social, and technological patterns emerging today would be brought to their full realization. Bye bye vengeful robot armies and flying cars. Farewell super-heroes and worlds to be saved. Enter 3D printed everything, post-industrialism, bits, polys, digital superstition, fully automated luxury anarchy, maker-topia, and a perpetual me-fest. This is a sci-fi reboot, and our own brand of future fiction.
"It looks like books." Well-spotted eagle-eye. They are the first three books of the N O R M A L S series, respectively titled N O R M A L 0 0 1, 0 0 2, and 0 0 3, or "N 1 2 3" in short. Each is 80 pages long, and features an episode of a graphic novel where our designs are put to use by "frenz" — the inhabitants of a future world were people live on synthetic trees — as well as background research, commentary and documentation on our various projects, written thinking, and short-fictions.
After an initial pre-release (covered by an extensive interview on Creative Applications Network) in December 2013, this first, limited edition of 500 copies was self-funded and independently released on January 10th 2014.
