The New American Haggadah with Design and Art by Israeli Typographer Oded Ezer.

above: a sample interior spread from the New American Haggadah featuring Hebrew typography by Oded Ezer

The Jewish holiday, Passover, is soon upon us. Starting Friday night, April 6th, Jewish families and friends all over the world will gather around the Seder table, each with their Haggadah. The Haggadah recounts through prayer and song the extraordinary story of Exodus, when Moses led the ancient Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to wander the desert for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land.



One of my favorite posts of all time is my round up of 20 modern, beautifully designed and illustrated Haggadot. This year, there's a new one to add to the list.




Now, Jonathan Safran Foer (who wrote Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close) has orchestrated a new way of experiencing and understanding one of our oldest, most timeless, and sacred stories, with a new translation of the traditional text by Nanathan Englander and provocative commentary by a collection of major Jewish writers and thinkers.



The book's interiors are beautifully designed and illustrated by the acclaimed Israeli artist and calligrapher Oded Ezer:



As Alex Williams reports for The New York Times "The book’s minimalist design, by Oded Ezer, looks like a catalog for a MoMA typography exhibition, and the text is rendered both vertically (for the Exodus story) and horizontally (for commentary and a timeline). In place of storybook illustrations of Moses are abstract watercolor illustrations based on Hebrew typography. "









above: typographer and artist Oded Ezer is well known throughout the global design community for his work

Oded Ezer's site

Below is a video of Jonathan Safran Foer explaining his new Haggadah to Stephen Colbert:



About the Authors:
Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of Everything Is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Eating Animals. His books have been translated into thirty-six languages. Everything Is Illuminated received a National Jewish Book Award and a Guardian First Book Award, and was made into a film by Liev Schreiber. Foer lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the novelist Nicole Krauss, and their children.


above: Nathan Englander, left, translated the liturgical text for the “New American Haggadah,” which Jonathan Safran Foer edited. Four writers contributed commentary. (Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times)

Nanathan Englander is the author of The Ministry of Special Cases and For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, which earned him a PEN/Malamud Award and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Sue Kauffman Prize. His short fiction has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and numerous anthologies including The Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Anthology, and The Pushcart Prize. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2003 and a Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library in 2004. He lives in Manhattan.

Some reviews:
"A touching and scholarly Haggadah that offers fresh insights....what makes this Haggadah shine is the combination of commentary, design, and illustration....[it makes] us think, laugh, cry, and ask questions." (Financial Times, Julia Neuberger )

"This Haggadah sings to more than one generation; it is glorious and rich, funny and affirming. And it reminds us of why we do Passover in the first place. This is what we've been waiting for." (Writer's Bloc Presents Andrea Grossman )

Product Details
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; Bilingual edition (March 5, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316069868
• ISBN-13: 978-0316069861
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 0.8 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Thanks to the NY Daily News, Little, Brown & Company, Oded Ezer and the New York Times for some of the images and information.



The Best 20 Modern Passover Haggadahs:

above: a few of the Modern Passover Haggadahs (or Haggadot) I featured in this past post.

Turning Text Into Art. Intricately Altered Books by Brian Dettmer.

above: Brian Dettmer, Webster Withdrawn, 2010

above: Brian Dettmer, Absolute Authority, 2011

Taking medical texts, encylopedias, dictionaries, historical texts and other reference tomes, artist Brian Dettmer creates intricate sculptures. Carving up covers, interior pages, images and words to create layers and assembling the books with great dimensionality, his works create narratives that demand the viewer's investigation. Photos won't do them justice, so if you ever get the chance to see them in person, do! (upcoming shows are listed at the end of this post)

Complete Guide, 2011:

Complete Guide (detail), 2011:

The Brain, 2011:

The Brain (detail), 2011:

Smith's Scientific Series, full and detail, 2011:

There's Nothing To Fear, 2011:

There's Nothing To Fear (detail), 2011:

Macmillan, 2011:

Saturation Will Result, 2011 and Macmillan (detail), 2011:

The Facts on File, 2011:

Totem, 2011 and Tower of Babble, 2011:

Universal Standard, 2011 and American Peoples, 2011:

American Peoples, 2011 (detail):

American Peoples (close up), 2011:

Prose and Poetry of the World, 2011:

Compiled Upon A New Plan, 2010 and Encylopedias of World Travel, 2010:

Goya, 2010:

The House of Tongues:

The March of Democracy, 2010:

The ROTC Manual, 2010 and The Story of Man, 2010:

Military Preventative Medicine, 2010:

The Volume Library, 2010:

Wagnall's Wheel, 2010:


Artist's Statement:
The age of information in physical form is waning. As intangible routes thrive with quicker fluidity, material and history are being lost, slipping and eroding into the ether. Newer media swiftly flips forms, unrestricted by the weight of material and the responsibility of history. In the tangible world we are left with a frozen material but in the intangible world we may be left with nothing. History is lost as formats change from physical stability to digital distress.

The richness and depth of the book is universally respected yet often undiscovered as the monopoly of the form and relevance of the information fades over time. The book’s intended function has decreased and the form remains linear in a non-linear world. By altering physical forms of information and shifting preconceived functions, new and unexpected roles emerge. This is the area I currently operate in. Through meticulous excavation or concise alteration I edit or dissect communicative objects or systems such as books, maps, tapes and other media. The medium’s role transforms. Its content is recontextualized and new meanings or interpretations emerge.

Explanation of Process:
In this work I begin with an existing book and seal its edges, creating an enclosed vessel full of unearthed potential. I cut into the surface of the book and dissect through it from the front. I work with knives, tweezers and surgical tools to carve one page at a time, exposing each layer while cutting around ideas and images of interest. Nothing inside the books is relocated or implanted, only removed. Images and ideas are revealed to expose alternate histories and memories. My work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book’s internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception.

Brian gives a quick-paced, informal 6 minute talk about his work in the video below:


Bio:
Dettmer is originally from Chicago. He currently resides in Atlanta, GA.

Brian Dettmer is known for his detailed and innovative sculptures with books and other forms of antiquated media. He is currently represented by Kinz + Tillou (New York), Packer Schopf (Chicago), MiTO (Barcelona), Toomey Tourell (San Francisco) and Saltworks (Atlanta). Dettmer’s work has been exhibited Internationally in several galleries, museums and art centers including the Museum of Arts and Design (NY), Museum of Contemporary Art (GA), the International Museum of Surgical Science (IL), Museum Rijswijh (Netherlands), Wellcome Collection (England) the Bellevue Arts Museum (WA), The Kohler Arts Center (WI), and the Illinois State Museums (IL). His work can be found in several public and private collections throughout the U.S, Latin America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

Dettmer’s work has gained International acclaim through internet bloggers, and traditional media. His work has been featured on the CBS Evening News, The New York Times (US), The Los Angeles Times (US), The Guardian (UK), The Telegraph (UK) Chicago Tribune (US), The Age (AU), Art News, Modern Painters, Wired, The Village Voice, Harper’s, Esquire and National Public Radio among others.

In recent years Dettmer has established himself as one of the leading International contemporary artists working with the book today. In 2011 his work was featured on the cover of Book Art (Gestalten Publishers, Berlin) and discussed in a historical context in Bookwork (Stewart, The University of Chicago Press). In 2012 he is scheduled to have solo shows in San Francisco with Toomey Tourell Fine Art and The Jewish Community Center; in Maribor, Slovenia as part of its celebration as the European Cultural Capital of 2012; in Lucca, Italy for Cartasia, a biennale of contemporary paper art; and in Atlanta, GA at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. His work is also scheduled to be in several group shows including “40 under 40” at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute.

Upcoming Solo Shows:
• Brian Dettmer, October 20, 2012 – January 5, 2013 Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA-GA), Atlanta, GA

• Brian Dettmer, Selected Works, February – March 2012, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

• Brian Dettmer, Textonomy, February 2 – March 17, 2012, Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
all images courtesy of the artist

Brian Dettmer