If you’re looking for inspiration, you’ll find it all over the streets, written blatantly across billboards, hailed at art shows and everywhere throughout the webosphere. But who needs all that static when you can find all the inspiration you need in any issue of Picnic Magazine. Printed in Tel Aviv, Picnic is a biannual publication completely void of text, filled only with images that are both curated and stumbled upon. Unable to perfectly describe the concept of the publication myself, I asked its three editors – Meir Kordevani, Adi Englman and Toony Navok – if they would.

Gillian Tozer: Picnic is unlike any other publication around at the moment. How would you describe its purpose and function?
Picnic Magazine: One of the main ideas behind this project is to arouse independent observation without and editor or writer explaining what you see. What you see is what YOU see – the connections, interpretations and inspirations are all yours.

Picnic is also accessible to anyone in the world because it lacks any language barrier. You can read it from the back or the front, depending on your linguistic habits. Although this type of textless format has been done before, we feel that a magazine like this, conceived in such an energetically charged zone like Israel, has a different role and responsibility to the world. 

GT: With so much content, what is the curating process like for each issue?
PM: In general, we work very intuitively. We search the web, travel around the world, andn meet with artists. Music has a big impact on our curatorial process and we also present music mixtapes parallel to the release of a new volume. We recently started to realize that the visual, rational and emotional understatements gathered in each volume make it a guide, so we now circulate the magazine as "A Visual Guide to Your New Reality."

GT: How do you mostly come across your contributors and other miscellaneous images?
PM: We come across most of the material on our own, but we also receive a lot of materials by artists. The internet, of course, plays a major role in our investigations; we don’t limit our research to only artists or photographers – we look everywhere. One of our goals is to expose unfamiliar talents as well as less-known artistic and creative practices.

GT: Are there any particular contributors from the current issue you would like to speak about?
PM: We experience a lot of small coincidental miracles in our working process. We came across an amazing set of images from the 1980s by Robin Moore, showing NYC high-school students practicing math with string figures during a lesson. Their expressions, their fashion style and the geometrical solutions on their fingers are such a source of inspiration!

We also published some beautiful images of gem stones belonging to a British businessman who deals them in Hong Kong. He made the images while researching a method of discovering their history and quality. Made with his love of his trade, the images were incredible and we were delighted to publish them.

GT: Tell me a little about the independent publishing scene in Tel Aviv. Are there any publications or projects you admire?
PM: When we started Picnic, there was hardly anything similar or substantial around. But in the last few years, the publishing scene in Tel Aviv – which is mostly independent – has slowly started to thrive.

GT: How many people work on one issue?

PM: The core work is made by us three co-editors (Meir Kordevani, Architect and Photographer; Adi Englman, Art Historian and Freelance Curator; and Toony Navok, Artist). We oversee all the design work down to the tiny details, supervise marketing, PR and advertising, and handle the worldwide distribution. Basically, we are a three-person magazine. We have developed a very telepathic way of working with each other, which makes our decision making manageable and flowing. There is also a small staff at the bureau working on the logistics, as we are not only working entirely on the magazine, but also curating and designing exhibitions and giving content advice to art and culture institutions.  

GT: Picnic hopes to lead its readers to a "New Reality." What is this reality?
PM: A new reality is something that is determined by one's self. By orchestrating your thoughts and imagination, you create your own reality. There are a lot of changes going on in all our lives, and many changes are still to come. Many questions rise about the meaning of our existence and the essence of all that is happening around us. But the answers are all around us, because visuals transmit relevant vibrations. We like to think of Picnic Magazine as a spiritual guide that has no words.


www.picnicmagazine.net

Check out Allegra's Book Club post for more images of Picnic!   

FILED UNDER: Picnic Magazine , Books , Gillian Tozer , Book Club , INTERVIEW , IT TAKES TWO