{"id":8675,"date":"2024-03-29T18:28:20","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T17:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marsilioarte.it\/?post_type=magazine&p=8675"},"modified":"2024-03-29T18:48:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T17:48:47","slug":"the-book-hungry-minds-interview","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/www.marsilioarte.it\/en\/magazine\/the-book-hungry-minds-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"How to design the book to rebuild civilization"},"content":{"rendered":"In the early days of the pandemic, when uncertainty and fear monopolized our thoughts about the future, a group of artists, designers and illustrators from all over the world joined forces and created The Book. The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding a Civilization<\/em>. We got the whole story from Vsevolod Batischev and Lev Kaplan.
\r\n
\r\n\u00a0<\/strong>The story of\u00a0The Book<\/em>\u00a0is amazing: from the starting idea to the incredible crowdfunding to the Italian version published by Marsilio Arte. Could you briefly retrace the history of the project?<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\nVsevolod Batischev: When I was little, I remember how children\u2019s encyclopedias fascinated me. The realization that behind every simple or complex thing was a brilliant idea inspired me. Looking at things around me, I always wondered, \u201cHow would I make this?\u201d \u201cWhat would I use to make a bowstring?\u201d \u201cAnd glasses?\u201d
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\r\nEven in university, I continued pondering these questions; the list grew, but my amazement didn\u2019t wane. At 24, I built Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s workshop, recreating almost all his inventions. Knights raised their hands, stained glass with the Vitruvian Man lit up, and the serpent\u2019s head on the shield moved. In his model of the ideal city, I incorporated water-powered construction tower drives.
\r\n
\r\nIn 2020, the epidemic hit, and I lost my business. I was also expecting my first child. We lived in Japan then, borders closed, the entire country staying at home. Tokyo and Kyoto streets were empty. We stayed on Naoshima, an island of museums and scattered art installations.
\r\n
\r\nOne day, my wife and I wondered if this was the beginning of the end. What if the pandemic wiped out 99% of the population? Who would rebuild civilization? We certainly didn\u2019t fit that role. That\u2019s when the idea of creating a book first crossed my mind. I wrote to my friend Timur, \u201cI have an idea, but we need to act fast; time is short\u201d. It was April 2020.
\r\n
\r\nWhat happened next?<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\nVsevolod Batischev: We searched for an illustrator, met Lev Kaplan, and the project gained a soul. For six months, we explored our style, chose illustration themes, studied a lot ourselves, made sketches on napkins. By December, we launched a Kickstarter with modest expectations. Our optimistic plan was $300k, viewing it as a hobby but passionately committed.
\r\n
\r\nAfter that, we honestly don\u2019t know what happened. We raised $500k in a few days, $1 million halfway through, and it ended at almost $2.5 million. We were happy, but the realization took time; we weren\u2019t prepared for this. Now, it meant tens of thousands of people worldwide believed in us, and we couldn\u2019t let them down.
\r\n
\r\nWith this realization came the understanding that we might not handle it alone. In the following months, we hired the best illustrators worldwide, experts in various fields \u2012medicine, engineering, culture, psychology, art. Throughout the next year, we worked on the book every day. It\u2019s 2021, still in the pandemic; by the way, we haven\u2019t met most of the people we worked with in person.
\r\n
\r\nBehind each illustration, there are dozens of people-hours of meticulous work, numerous rejected sketches, and a massive amount of expert comments. It was an incredibly exhausting year but, I admit, one of the happiest.
\r\n

THE BOOK BY HUNGRY MINDS<\/strong><\/h2>
\r\nWhich are the aims of\u00a0The Book<\/em>? And how does it talk to the readers?<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\nVsevolod Batischev: It seems to me that the main goal of the book is to allow readers to experience the forgotten sense of childhood curiosity once again. The world is still just as amazing; many of us have simply grown up and over the years lost that taste of childhood \u2012 curiosity, wonder about the surrounding world, the ability to always be ready to be amazed. We no longer ask ourselves how a car moves; instead, we often wonder where the traffic jam comes from. Yet, so many things in the Universe happened, so many bright ideas were born just for this traffic jam to exist. Things have become routine for us. The book enables us to look at them anew, to feel the genius of human thought.
\r\n
\r\n\u201cWho\u201d is Hungry Minds? How would you describe the collective you co-founded? Who participates in it?<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\nVsevolod Batischev: We have a large team, and it was actually a stroke of luck to gather such a number of like-minded individuals. Hungry minds, I must say. We all perceive the book as our legacy. In the quest for truth, we spent many days in heated debates, but we all understood that each of them makes the book better. We are an international team from Russia, Ukraine, England, Germany, America, Israel, and other countries. Perhaps that\u2019s why in the book, we celebrate not the history of individual countries but humanity as a whole.
\r\n

THE STORY OF THE BOOK<\/strong><\/h2>
\r\n\u00a0<\/strong>The illustrations created for\u00a0The Book<\/em>\u00a0recall different kinds of aesthetics and culture, from steampunk to pop. Could you tell us something more about the process that led to the illustrations of\u00a0The Book<\/em>?<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\nVsevolod Batischev: The distinctive style of our book was inspired by the works of the illustrator Svetlana Dorosheva; we were captivated by her contemporary interpretation of medieval madness. Lev Kaplan perfected it. In fact, each illustration has several layers. The first layer is encyclopedic, rooted in ideas. We had to read numerous scientific articles, study drawings, and involve experts. This formed the skeleton of the illustration. Then, we added a twist \u2013 some unusual and visually striking form. Octopus surgeons, non-existent plants, animals in armor \u2013 these gave the illustration character, allowing a fresh look at familiar things. The final touch was adding Easter eggs. They are in almost every illustration, many referencing contemporary pop culture or historical figures, but some are much more complex, requiring considerable erudition to discover. There is the GO match between Lee Sedol and AI, we include the specific move in the illustration. It is known as \u201cGod move\u201d. There is also The Easter egg related to the founding story of the Lamborghini company. Essentially, you can reread the book multiple times on different levels. I don\u2019t think that even one person alone can solve all the mysteries of the book.
\r\n

THE ILLUSTRATOR LEV KAPLAN<\/strong><\/h2>
\r\nAs the art director and the head of the illustrators’ team of\u00a0The Book<\/em>, how would you describe this editorial project? What is\u00a0The Book<\/em>, from your point of view?<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\nLev Kaplan:\u00a0As I see it, The Book<\/em> is first and foremost the idea of seeing the history of civilization from the point of view of modern man both in content and visually. That\u2019s why we chose the style of old painted engravings, supplementing it with steampunk and dieselpunk elements, making the style itself a part of storytelling. In addition, this project showed how well a large team of illustrators can work together, drawing illustrations in almost the same style, but without losing their individual features and enjoying an interesting project.
\r\n
\r\nI would like to add that I enjoyed working on The Book<\/em> also because I managed to avoid too much \u201cdeadly\u201d seriousness in the approach to illustrations, which often spoils a project.
\r\n
\r\nInterview by Arianna Testino<\/strong>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categorie_magazine":[341],"class_list":["post-8675","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","hentry","categorie_magazine-books-from-marte"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to design the book to rebuild civilization - Marsilio Arte<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cThe Book\u201d is the volume created by the Hungry Minds collective. 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