When I was 45 I moved to Berlin and overnight lost my voice.

7 months on, I consider myself to be in a very privileged place; floating between languages

These bright summer mornings I wake up early to bird song and the sound of the odd car on the road. Both posess an international language; (Olivier Messiaen may have queried this about the feathered ones; he observed that from continent to continent the same species of bird could have a different song.) But to my untutored ear the soundscape could be that of 10119 Berlin,  NW5 London or Fife, Scotland.

It is only when the radio is switched on that location becomes linguistically specific. The channel, Deutschland Funk, (nothing to do with the music of US black origin ) spews out a flock of words that soar and flap around the room and I begin another day of trying to Lug them. Slowly my catch increases; to put a percentage figure on it would be difficult, perhaps anything between 25 and 65 percent. From this I can get the gist and sometimes, completely the wrong gist.

It is one thing accumulating words but it’s another putting them into a sentence. On the occasions I have attended language classes, I have become utterly dejected as fellow classmates from Malaysia, Japan, France , Spain, Italy, Lebanon and Turkey, reel through conjugation tables and identify Dative and Accusative sentences. At the end of each class and in the coldest winter I have ever experienced, I became at times the unnamed vagrant from Knut Hamsun’s novel, Hunger; trudging the snow, slush, grit pavements, hating everyone around, because they could speak German and I couldn’t!  At times like this I would seek refuge in the Melodic language of Schubert and Haydn or convalesce in the silent ward of Renaissance painting at the Gemaldegalerie.

A sobering thought occurred to me quite early on when surrounded with exercise books full of indecipherable sentences and pages of my incoherent notes; language is an egalitarian currency, equally available to all. Was it this that attracted a young Noam Chomsky to study linguistics? My desire to live an enlightened life drives me on to try and learn a new system of speech. However, belief in the ability to do this often leads me to grimly meditate on the life of an illiterate pauper.

A few months back a friend noting my frustrations with language studies, offered this advice; You don’t learn language through the head it comes through the gut. At the time I liked the saying but wasn’t quite sure what they had meant. Another friend said recently, that they retain much more of a new language when they are relaxed; perhaps sitting in the sun, having a coffee and cake or a beer, taking in the smells, the air, the weather, the touch and feel of something. I offered up a similar experience with a life spent drawing in small books which I always carry around. On the odd occasion that I flick through them,( some going back 25 years), a whole flood of memories can come rushing back to the exact time they were made; the taste of a cigarette or a specific conversation. This is not the same for me when looking at old photographs.

I have noticed that if one does concentrate just as much upon the context as what is being said, you can pick up a lot. I mean, I dare say we could all identify a fire in the building by the clouds of smoke and fumes before we needed someone shouting Fire, to convince us of the fact. A final demand bill is easily detected by its warning total being printed in red ink; although this could be an occasion when you turn, not being able to read or speak that specific language, to your advantage.

It is here as an artist, that I begin to consider the pace of learning a new language; for once you get over the sudden shock of not even having the words to ask for the right kind of bread, and once you get use to, linguistically, feeling like a complete fool, then you can begin to enjoy the Tabula Rasa; a new beginning and all its freedoms.

I am currently reading a biography of Leon Trotsky; The Chapter of the book that deals with the first World War, talks about his brief time in Zürich. He, a Russian could read and speak French, English, Italian, German and Austrian, and he was just about to go off and lead a revolution!  Although there is no mention of this in the book, I have been thinking about another group of revolutionaries in that city, a year or so after Trotsky. For the Cabaret Voltaire, language had betrayed the world; the pen pusher, statesmen and Politician, had through their eloquent use of language, lead the world to the logical insanity of mass slaughter on the battlefields and in the trenches of the Great War. Even though the Dadaists could probably speak as many languages as Trotsky, they chose to grunt, scream, bang and dance; destroying and creating language and often saying much more with nothing.

Last Year I attended a lecture given by Gustav Metzger and really liked the point he made about waste in language. He focused specifically on the mobile phone and not just on the unknown damage it may be doing to the environment. He also spoke about the absolute waste of language through the mountains of unnecessary phone conversations had everyday.

In the past months I have kept in touch with people in the UK mainly through the internet . Whenever I speak to my good friend Michael Wedgwood on Skype, he is often accompanied by his 6 month old daughter. In recent times she has become increasingly vocal as she lies in the background, at first I thought she was distressed and kept asking if he wanted to check all was ok. Oh no, she’s fine. She is just making noises. listening to herself and learning.  Giacometti’s deathbed, is the other end of the life scale but one account told of the strange noises coming from the dying artists mouth. When asked if he was in pain he communicated that he wasn’t, he was just enjoying the sounds he was making. Shortly after, he passed away.

So now in Berlin, where each day I behave a little less like Kasper Hauser and speak a little less like a German version of Manuel in Faulty Towers; I must also be aware and alert to how the huge gaps in my language are filled in. Did I really move to another country in order to repeat all the things I was doing already? If that is the case by the time I am 90 I will be back chasing my own dusty tail and still banging my head against the wall, only then in fluent Deutsch. However, in these salad days, I should celebrate all the things a new country and language offer. Especially the absolute bliss of now and again, hearing, speaking, and understanding absolutely nothing.

We were sent this interview from the London Word Festival that is now on Youtube, conducted and edited by Garry Brown.

You can see a presentation document we printed and folded for a think tank called Tommorrow’s Thoughts Today on their blog here:

…Where the Grass is Greener

It is made from one of the Gmund bier papers made from the reclaimed detritus of brewing in Germany. This was an important element for them as recycling is one of the main themes of their Swiftian satire on Carbon accounting.

People are now calling for a general election, new systems and prosecutions in the light of MPs expenses scandals. This is appropriate, but I think it is worth looking at the speck in our eye as we look at the plank in theirs. If you look at the recent scandals of the Commons, why didn’t we provide a chorus demand fundamental changes when MPs led us into war, for example? When the protest was unsuccessful we sort of said a collective ’sod-it’ and forgot about it. Still no WMDs and Blair now has an inappropriate Foundation to his name. Does it only take misuse of our MONEY before we demand fundamental changes to the system?

For a long time now, alongside our programme of events and books we publish and distribute, we have been taking on printing and binding commissions where we bring our experience and skills to bear on other people’s projects. We can produce screenprinted wedding invitations, orders of service, Christmas cards, event flyers, corporate invitations and presentation documents, fine art prints on a very wide range of papers, posters, paperback books, hardback books, pamphlets, albums, print portfolios, slip-cases, solander boxes, Japanese style bindings… and any other printed or bound matter you wish to attempt. We have suppliers for a wide range of papers and cloths that you can choose from.

We can work from your finished designs or help to guide you through the process from the faintest contradictory ideas scrawled on the back of an envelope. We have no standard designs. And if the solution you are looking for isn’t catered for completely by the equipment in our own workshop, we can also manage the project as a whole, bringing in other processes and design partners from our extended family. Just talk things through with us and we will provide you with a quote:

david@henninghamfamilypress.co.uk ping@henninghamfamilypress.co.uk

Below are some examples of commissions undertaken to date. If you also look at the bookshelf on our homepage you will see our catalogue of published works that show you what we can do.

We executed this architectural practice’s design for a presentation document as a Japanese-bound book. We sewed clothing name labels across the covers and continued the stitch into the spine of the book. A plastic pocket at the back including samples is also sewn in. 

“Thank you both for your work on the books, they look stunning.” Hawkins Brown, Architects

We produced a hardback and paperback edition of Sarah Mayers’ poetry for her parents to distribute to her friends and family as a celebration of her life after she passed away.

We took the basic text files and executed the typesetting, printing, and binding, in close consultation with their choices of material and style. Wonderful illustrations were provided by Geof and we screenprinted them in silver. We have produced these books in short runs on demand.

“We are really pleased with both the hard and paperbacks, you have done a super job. We especially like the colour of the covers, the quality of the paper and the subtle way of including the illustrations.” Geof and Elizabeth Mayers

Design studio sparks created this A3 board game Christmas Card for their client base and to advertise their services. We consulted with them on how their design could be executed with the silkscreen process and printed the work on a double layer of greyboard we stuck together to form a 4mm thickness.

“We liked the retro style” Iconeye online magazine

We produced these two orders of service with two different approaches to fit the couple’s needs.

This red A6 one was produced to fit a jacket pocket. We did the typesetting, drew the rose motif, and bound it with a beautiful pamphlet stitch. The interior is laserprinted and the exterior screenprinted in white on a red textured paper produced using windpower!

We produced the covers for this A5 teal order of service , again screenprinted in white, but this time to the client’s ready design. They also printed the insides themselves and stitched them. For this reason we allowed a 1.5mm gap around the edge to ensure that the pages inside wouldn’t be proud of the finished cover.

We designed and printed this wedding invitation for a couple looking for a contemporary style, like a postcard, to reflect their interest in the life outdoors

This wedding invite was printed from the couple’s handwritten notes, it doesn’t have to be on computer for us to print it. We also organised accompanying button badges for the reception.

 This wedding invitation was printed and folded to the designers specifications from their finished designs. We also advised the couple on the range of colourful papers at our disposal, far more diverse than available at most wedding stationers or printers.

“They look brilliant!  I am really excited about sending them out.” Katherine Van Berckel, bride-to-be

This was an A5 one-sided wedding invitation executed from a drawing done by the bride, handed to us in the pub.

This invitation was printed in silver and pink on brown paper. There was also a vellum coloured alternative. We can print a proportion of the invites with different text at no extra cost, allowing you to invite some people to the reception and others to just the service.
“The most beautiful invitation I’ve seen all year” Ruth, a recipient.

We printed these carol service invitations for a Hackney church, printing a translucent white on dark blue to achieve a subtle tonal difference between front and back. This is one of the advantages of silkscreen printing.

We can also print large flat stock prints for art galleries and fine art projects. We printed this A2 poster for an Aberdeen artist collective.

If what you want to try isn’t represented here, remember these aren’t standard designs, we’ve got a history of working these things out.

Why is it all you read about the European Union election on June 4th is how you must use your vote lest the Nazis get enough of a vote to get a seat? Is that really the most compelling reason that can be found for us to go out and vote?

Two points worthy of comment spring to mind, the first being the illogic of what the general public appear to be afraid of, and the second is the underlying structural problem we are not addressing.

Firstly, this call to voters to go out and vote primarily to block the BNP threatens to backfire in a couple of important ways. This will be seen by proponents of authoritarianism as an open admission that democracy is dangerous, i.e. extremist elements like the BNP can get an influence. The same quarter will also take this as an open admission that democracy is failing because nobody actually goes out to vote. What I think is really happening is a knee-jerk reaction against proportional representation. We are not used to the idea of extreme elements getting a seat because of our first-past-the-post system. The real problem to address is voter apathy. 

Voter apathy is caused by having no genuine choice in the election because ‘politicians are all the same’ and the system appears to most voters to be designed to prevent change, especially on a local level where they might be tempted to engage. Ironically this is an indictment of our particular first past the post system. If we were to have greater influence as voters by having a proportional representation, the BNP would have less chance of being elected because of wide participation. As it is we are now being asked to simulate an enthusiastic electorate to keep them out for the period of european involvement. This is merely British paranoia about coalition government. Other countries end up incorporating a lunatic fringe because their system is more representational, but keep them in check by actually voting with real hopes in mind. If we want to slam the BNP then we cannot afford to add to their sense of victimhood by openly marginalising them. We need to defeat them in the open by having a fair system wherin they have a chance of inclusion and yet it fails to become manifest through their own unpopularity. Our current system inflates their threat and increases their influence by conspiring to deny them a seat. This demands a proportional system, education against racism and national insecurity, legal action against the red-top press when it distorts issues like immigration, and pallatable alternatives to the BNP in mainstream parties.

This brings me to the second point, which is escaping public attention. Our system is designed to create a semi-authoriatarian governing body, effectively a wartime government, probably because of needing to control a massive empire in the past. We no longer have this empire, and a strong side of the house with a bent towards accomodating perpetual struggle, possibly armed, is very similar to a Nazi philosophy of government. There’s the irony. The dominant party is almost able to bring in things like ID cards, start war with impunity, indulge in biopolitics… Looks like the nazis already have a pretty big share of the vote!

If we want to prevent the slide into totalitarianism, as we obviously must, we should remember history clearly. The Nazis in Germany got influence because they had a lot of public support and were able to exclude the Communists through underhand scheming. We are not going to become a racist state by the BNP getting one seat and 8%. If we are up to 8% racist we need to address the root causes and not try and ameliorate this at the ballot box by half-heartedly excluding 8% of our population who are racists. We must not confuse the BNP, who are racists, with the Nazis, who were biopolitical and totalitarian in addition to being racists.  The truth is that it is the mainstream parties who are utilising all the old Nazi tricks and conflating biological and political motives, and part of the reason they get away with it is pointing to the racist fringe and calling them the Nazis.

I spent some time with friend of the family Eddie Farrell in Berlin and, like two Englishman are prone to do in Berlin, we spent too much time talking about the Wars. But it reminded us of this documentary about Jake Thackray, which ended on this wonderful understated song. It’s peculiar, but I realise now that all through my life I’ve had a kind of clock in my imagination measuring my age against possible conscription. When I heard about the Gulf War I thought, oh damn, I’ll be called up, and I remember my best mate Gav thought the same, and I thought we’d die together and they’d bury us with our arms linked like they used to. And when I crippled my arch I thought at least they’s have to think twice about putting me in jungle footwear. And when I married that put me further away, and at some point recently I felt relief that I was now too old. I think it was one of the most useful impressions my Dad {similar in age and appearance to Jake} left on me; that there was this absurd circumstance beyond our control where they would line up thousands of young men on two sides, and that we would advance on each other and somehow everything would disappear.

Whilst travelling we noticed some interesting social commentary going on in the various approaches different nations have towards crossing the road. In Berlin and Leipzig people always wait for the illumination of the Green Man. Our friend was prevented from crossing the road by a 20 yr old anarchist who explained that it sets a bad example to children to cross on red (note that this is a correct example of anarchism). Nobody ever crosses on red. This was taken further in Norway, where those who obviously were considered outcasts by themselves and others were taking the Red Man as an opportunity to publically express their standing by waiting for the Green Man to go away before commencing their crossing. And of course in England we have a button whose function it is to illuminate the word WAIT, which most other peoples seem to overlook. It took me ages to realise that they probably communicate nothing to the traffic lights unless you’re in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps it merely replicates the British approach to law; a button we elect to push that tells us to do something we wouldn’t do if we hadn’t chosen to be told to do it, and then promptly ignore.

Next week we’ll be off to Bergen in Norway with the group InterInterInter for the Borealis Festival.  At the PrInterPrInterPrInter blog, dedicated to this project, you’ll be able to take part in what we’re doing through the comment facilities and see what we’re doing as it happens! You can also see stuff at the InterInterInter blog, and the Borealis Festival website.

We are doing our show where we make a book in a night at the end of the festival. Pages will be printed at the audience tables cabaret style and the activities thereon will relate to the music performances about to take place. The pages are then compiled into a single site specific book with improvised pressing equipment like upturned tables and punters drinking their pints. This will be the third in the series after Bethnal Green and Gent {Belgium}.  

In addition we will be doing events with the audience throughout the festival, including shows in the street and at a horse-racing track. We will be bringing two new inventions to bear on this part of the event. Firstly conversations recorded on A3 manilla cards will be continually added to a bergen-box-blog; a primitive computer made of categorised manilla cards in a cloth-bound box accessed with a knitting needle that penetrates the haystack of notes and doodles through holes at the top of the page. Secondly we’ll be using the ‘Interbet’, an interactive alphabet suitable for A sizes composed of PDFs that need some puzzling and assembling once printed. We’ll be making the Interbet available soon!

We had a great night last weekend when we performed our first live print music ballad with Jon Bilbrough at Stoke Newington International airport for the London Word Festival. The last few copies are available through our order form, or if you stop us in the street and ask for one {saves on postage}. Most were snapped up from the line while they were still wet. There are a few videos already online if you search for them, but here is our own humble contribution placed on the centre for Eternal Return that is Youtube