WEIRDESTBOOKS

A CATARYAND A MEMOLOG

The base for this book was to make a catalog of the 10 weird-

est books in the KASK library. Which i entangled in my own

opinion and life. I started by taking the 10 books, of which i

personally thought, were the weirdest. Which means having

titles that you can mis interpret.

I wanted to make the book something personal, something I

alone could write and make. So i took each of the books and

when the title, the content or the pictures reminded me of

something i’ve been through or experienced in my life, I

wrote the story down. Right next to that story I put an

image of the subject in that particular story with a small

sentence that said that you could get more information at

the back. The extra information included photos of the

books along with the titles and authors, respectively. The

chapters are also named after the books.

The design is inspired, and sometimes very literally, by

Penguin books. These books had a distinctive color code and

design. That’s why my book looks like a novel at first but

actually is a mix between my personal vision and the facts

about the books themselves.

weirdest books

walter o. rothe

WALTER O. ROTHE

a catalog about memories that start from the 10 weirdest books in the kask library

WEIRDEST BOOKS

A CATARYAND A MEMOLOG

Weirdest Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Ghent, BelgiumViking Stuff That’s Also Weird Inc., Keizerstraat 128, Haasdonk 9120, Belgium

Weirdest Books East-Flanders Ltd, Rupelmonde, East-Flanders, BelgiumWeirdest Books Hell Ltd, 999, John Street, Sulfer, 7th Circle, Hell R9HE LL66 99

Weirdest Books (God) Ltd. 182–190 Yellow Brick Road. Golden Palace 10, Heaven

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First Published 2013by arrangement with W. C. Rothe & Son Ltd.

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Printed and bound in Belgium.

Except in the United States of America,this book is sold subject to the condition

that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise,be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated

without th publisher’s prior consent in any form ofbinding or cover other that that in which it is

published and without a similar conditionincluding this condition being imposed

on the subsequent purchaser.

CONTENTS

Public Intimacy 8

Bad Girls and Sick Boys 10

Civilizing Rituals 12

Don’t Make Me Think 14

Trees of Pythagoras 16

Children About the House 18

The Mustard Seed Garden 20

The Art of Existence 22

Sensuous Architecture 24

The Invention of the Landscape 26

8

more info can be found on page 28

9

There’s a photo on page 63 that strongly reminds me of the first time I saw the cult movie Nightmare On Elm Street. One of the last scenes, the boss-fight if you will, takes place in this kind of factory environment. Which is REALLY scary, especially if your ten years old. Maybe that’s why the title is Public Intimacy, It’s about an environment that is public but also has this subjectivity around it.We had a nice table in our living room, well, I say nice but I might actually mean simple: 4 rectangular chalk bricks set in a square with a flat square marble plate on top of them. Sublime. I’ve had some really nice strings of thought and memories entwined in this self-fabricated table. I still see myself, sitting between the sofas and the table, watching movies with my father.

PUBLIC INTIMACY

10

more info can be found on page 28

11

Olivier truly is my best friend, one of my oldest friends I sup-pose. He comes by my mother’s house almost every weekend. We do enjoy our time together.This one time, we were laughing at some things and bits and pictures on the Internet, later, when everyone else went to bed, we decided to watch some television. We stumbled upon The Fly by David Cronenberg. Like it is said in the book Bad Girls and Sick Boys by Kauffman, Jeff Goldblum transforms, via stages, in a fly.

I do like the drawing Chris Walas made of every stage from human to fly.

Olivier and I had a few drinks and laughed without a care in the world.We decided we both want tattoos.

BAD GIRLS & SICK BOYS

12

more info can be found on page 28

13

CIVILIZING RITUALS

You know, I do enjoy modern art. I’m a big fan of cubism and fauvism, but I absolutely despise, hate even, the connection people make with religion or rituals. I like to ridicule with these people because religion is a daft, greedy and unneces-sary evil. It would best be abolished or trodden upon.I’ve always been against Christianity but I learned that every religion was as bad as the next. I don’t want to ever take part in any of them. That’s what I wanted to say with the news-paper in made in my second year studying graphic design. People should learn to think instead of taking stuff for grant-ed or believing silly and/or stupid things. By the way, even if you wanted to, you can’t civilize a ritual and expect it to be the same. It’s a contradiction in itself.

Carol Duncan needs to sort out his priorities.

14

more info can be found on page 28

15

DON’T MAKE ME THINK

Hah, the little clickity-doodle hand on the cover, do you see it? It always will remind me of the same thing: That little Macintosh cursor I saw on the black and white Macintosh we used to play on. Diskette games were the best. There was this one game, damn, I forgot the name, but it was a game where you owned a zoo full of dinosaurs. You needed to take care of them and when they lay eggs you need to make sure their conditions are the best they can be so they hatch quick-ly. Really love that little old Macintosh. You just played the game. No need to make me think about it, getting myself out of my fantasy zoo, you could just play it. Steve Krug knows what I mean, even if his book isn’t that great, none of us are.

16

more info can be found on page 28

17

TREES OF PYTHAGORAS

When I was younger, I absolutely enjoyed myself pretending to be a knight. I would fight off evil for the good of mankind. The other pass-time I liked would be watching my father play Thief on the computer. I was more nervous and absolutely frightened than he was, but exhilarated at the same time. When I got a bit older I would play RPG’s and other games of fantasy myself. Making swords out of wood and spray-paint, making up heroic stories to satisfy my personal desire for fantasy. And trees, oh man, I loved to climb trees. Which is kind of ironic since I have a fear of heights. So yeah, that happened. The trees in this book remind me of the trees by Mondrian, abstraction upon abstraction. I love simplicity, don’t you? Bruno Ernst does.

18

more info can be found on page 28

19

CHILDREN ABOUT THE HOUSE

There’s a chapter in this book that happens to be about win-dows. It says that it’s one of the most dangerous things in the house, for your child. And boy, don’t I know it. There I was, living it up on vacation in Florida. We even had a pool in the house we rented there. Amazing weather as well. First thing I did when I woke up there was taking a swim, I was so excited, I didn’t even see the glass window. It was really big, especial-ly if you’re 8 years old. So I ran right into the window and hit my nose. I had hit the window so hard I fell over on the ground. That really was a weird experience. Lying there on my back, everybody saying I couldn’t move. In the end it was nothing, but a really strange experience.

20

more info can be found on page 28

21

THE MUSTARD SEED GARDEN

I always liked and hated gardens. I liked them for the trees, wind, natural ornaments in which you can find peace. I find, in this world, that same peace is otherwise hard to find. Were always busy doing something or going somewhere. Like big giant ants we roam the streets in search for meaning or something that makes it worthwhile. That makes it all worth-while. But it really should be a reason to celebrate, not having a reason or meaning. There’s no more pressure or time-value. Things just are.

22

more info can be found on page 28

23

THE ART OF EXISTENCE

This has got to be one of the strangest titles here. On the other hand it kind of makes sense. People don’t think about what makes it so that they are alive, day after day. People are so full of shit. You’d think that they would appreciate that they CAN live. It may sound stupid but there are a lot more people that could do with that kind of certainty. And every-body knows, but no one seems that determined to let al this money-driven lunacy go and help al the other people. The art of existence hé, hah, I’ll have another scotch instead.

24

more info can be found on page 28

25

Racist bastards, or rather sexist bastards, I absolutely hate those people. I cannot believe some of the insane ideas and perspectives they manage to put into sentences or laws even. Those people should be exiled into vast and unknown dangerous territory. It actually is really absurd, people are people, and lets just leave it at that. There is absolutely no point in trying to prove a sexist point, because that would be redundant.

SENSUOUS ARCHITECTURE

26

more info can be found on page 28

27

THE INVENTION OF

THE LANDSCAPE

And here we are, the last and final chapter of this obnoxious little book. We end with the invention of the landscape. Do you have any idea how bizarre this sounds? It’s like a book God would make for other Gods in different dimensions. A kind of how to or dummies book on how to create a world if you have the orb-shaped rock ready and able. It would, on the other hand, be very interesting to read. There are how-ever, two different outcomes. Or the knowledge is really good and we can use it ourselves and build planets from rocks. On the other hand, the knowledge could be to great and vast for us to comprehend and we would should explode. Quite interesting.

In chronological order from top to bottom and left to right.

PUBLIC INTIMACYWRITEN BY BRUNO

BAD GIRLS & SICK BOYSWRITEN BY KAUFFMAN

CIVILZING RITUALSWRITEN BY DUNCAN

DON’T MAKE ME THINKWRITEN BY KRUG

TREES OF PYTHAGORASWRITEN BY ERNST

CHILDREN ABOUT THE HOUSEWRITEN BY GELSON

THE MUSTARD SEED GARDENWRITEN BY SZE

BAMANAWRITEN BY COLLEYN

SENSUOUS ARCHITECTUREWRITEN BY THOMSEN

THE INVENTION OF THE LANDSCAPEWRITEN BY KONINKLIJK MUSEUM

VOOR SCHONE KUNSTEN

CATALOG OF MEMORIES - WALTER O. ROTHE

colofon

this book is completely fictive and noncommercial.

the fonts used are photina mt, p22 underground pro and roboto.

walter rothe was born in 1991 and studies graphic design at the

School of Arts in Ghent, Belgium. He is also a musician in 2 bands

and 1 side-project. He is writing a book, making a video-art film and

composing the music for a fashion show later this year.