A little retro, a little punk—Zoran Pungerčar associated this feeling with the sincere admiration of typography and riso printing to create his own art publishing house. The experimental and free philosophy of the project is included in its name, as the publishing house was named after a Minor Threat song. Here comes Look Back and Laugh!
The repertoire of the Ljubljana-based publishing house Look Back and Laugh focuses on zines and art publications made with the risograph technique. “Look Back and Laugh was created as a fun project that I started in 2011 with a friend of mine. At first, it was just a place where we could try new things that I felt were missing in Slovenia. Later, my friend moved on to other things, and influenced by the art book fairs, I wanted the project to grow into something bigger. My perspective changed especially after Jure Šajn joined me. We started working more widely with people whose work we admired. So since 2015, Jure and I have been working together on everything,” said Zoran Pungerčar, founder of Look Back and Laugh.
Initially, the focus was on the work of their own or local creators. Although strengthening and communicating the Slovenian creative community are also an important goal, over time they started to approach foreign creators. For example, Croatian artist Dunja Janković, whose abstract works have been followed before, but they also offer other works by other foreign artists. One of the outstanding recent works of the repertoire is the experimental publication, In Memory of The Present by Sophie Douala, a graphic designer and artist living in Berlin. The graphics in the book, based on strong visual language, are also special because the creator experimented with the possibilities of riso printing for the first time. “We have recently worked with a number of artists who have never used riso, which was an interesting way for us to try new things and break out of our usual methods. This is especially typical of Sophie Douala’s book, which was difficult to prepare, but in the end all the hard work it entailed was worth it,” Zoran said.
The experimental behavior of Look Back and Laugh is not only reflected in the variety of art publications. As Zoran pointed out, “it is inspiring how a graphic or visual idea can be placed in a publication and on an everyday object at the same time. Graphic design, as a tool to surround ourselves all the time, is very motivating.” Thus, the repertoire of the publishing house includes items with different graphics, such as T-shirts, sweaters or hats, as well as a water bottle.
Zoran and Jure would definitely like to present their riso-printed publications at some fairs in the spring period, which, as they emphasize, “will be a refreshing change after two years of lockdown.” At the end of the year, they want to create new books and objects, so it is definitely worth following LBAL’s Instagram page for more news.
3LHD transformed a 1930s cinema into a cultural center
A new exhibition celebrates the legacy of cars at the Guggenheim Museum
