The first book I held in my hands from Shift Books was one about love letters. Fictional, contemporary love letters written to accompany historical photos. In Liebe von has since won an award as one of the most beautiful German books from the Stiftung Buchkunst, Shift Books was awarded the German Publishing Prize — and I’ve been to a few of their book launches in the meantime. The publishing house was founded in 2018 by Helena Melikov and Christian Dettler to create more visibility for female artists, giving young people and their debut works a stage and bringing socio-critical topics to the fore. The individual and sustainable design of the books is just as important to them as the relevance of the topics they navigate. The result is a range of products from illustrated books, novels, love letters to magazines. Examples include the wild debut novel LEXI.exe by Swan Collective, which I devoured in one day, Julie Legouez’s The Cure, which deals with her artistic work on domestic violence, and most recently the current issue of Solomiya Magazine, which revolves around Ukrainian landscapes and their political dimension. Next up in the program is ez fraktal (self-similar) by Cihan Çakmak, a Kurdish artist and photographer. The book contains self-portraits and photographs taken over seven years, supplemented by quotes from dream diaries, which in combination form the visual and narrative language of the book. The release with artist talk will take place next week (04.03.2025) in the gallery erstererster. And whether it’s a love letter collection, a dystopian novel or an artist’s book, I can assure you that what Shift Books brings out, you take home with you. Literally or not.
Text: Inga Krumme / Photos: 8am Studio, Cihan Çakmak
Galerie erstererster, Pappelallee 69, 10437 Berlin–Prenzlauer Berg; map
Book Release & Artist Talk with Giulia Cramm & Cihan Çakmak 04.03.2025 19–22h
@shift.books
@ersterersterberlin
