GusGus 25 Years Photobook Project

What do we want to create?

FOR THEIR 25 YEARS ANNIVERSARY, WE WOULD LIKE TO CREATE A BEAUTIFUL PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK ABOUT THE BAND, MADE BY THE FANS, AND FOR THE FANS.

Dominique, Florence and Réza will be in charge of all parts of the project (planning, design, fabrication, financing, promotion and distribution).

How do we see it?

The GusGus 25 years book project is for the fans, and we would like it to be truly artistic and easy to understand for all, but not commercial. This book should reflect GusGus universe as much as possible. We would like to give a lot of importance to the design, quality of material, print, finish and packaging.

We want to make a beautiful book about GusGus, a collector object for the fans!

What will be inside it?

GusGus is multi-talented and we think that the book should be at their image. It should mix content from various media, show the multiple facets of the band – musical creativity, video aesthetic, live performances, and their various collaborations and inspirations.

Here is what we have listed so far regarding the content:

Photography: we would like to ask worldwide fans to send us their best pictures about GusGus, from various periods. We also have a lot of great pictures from concerts and backstage, but only for the last couple of years. We will probably receive a lot of pictures taken during concerts but we also hope to find some more intimate pictures, like during their creative process, backstage or other moments of the band.

Text: we would like to work on a simple text about GusGus history and maybe work with an Icelandic specialist to write a deeper text (for instance tell about the band’s influence on electronic music, etc.). The text will be both in Icelandic and English.

Other content: we would like to compile some graphical content, cover albums, posters, logos, and also maybe include some of the song titles and lyrics. GusGus graphical universe is very strong and the book should be inspired by it.

Videos: GusGus is not only a music band but also visual performers through fashion, make-up, costumes and video clips narration. It would be great to use some snapshots of the video clips and performances they did in the past.

How will we get the content?

We would like to make a call to fans to gather their pictures and other material through a Webpage. For the success of this call, we need something official and we would like to use the following URL or similar, if allowed by the band: http://gusgus-25yearsbook.com. On this page, the fans will be able to upload their pictures, fill-in their details and authorize the use of the pictures for the book.

Who are we?

We are a team of 3 GusGus fans:

Dominique Lameule, long-time GusGus fan, event promoter and DJ based in Heidelberg, Germany. Dominique has founded the private Facebook group “gusgus biggest fan club” with over 1’500 members, which is a very active group, and its members consisting of GusGus fans from all over the world. Dominique has hosted various concerts and events with Icelandic musicians and around the Icelandic music scene. Going to see as many GusGus concerts as possible, Dominique loves both immersing himself in the music and connecting with other fans to enjoy the unique atmosphere.

Florence Larbey, GusGus and electronic music fan, Art Director and Graphic Designer for more than 12 years, based in Paris, France. Florence is working a lot with the music industry for various projects (Universal Music, Decca Records, Nina Simone, Chet Baker, electronic music festivals in Paris) and specialized in book design (ÍSLAND photo book and multiple projects in progress). Music is a very important part of her life and this project is very inspiring to her. She discovered GusGus on her first trip to Iceland with Réza a few years back. For her, GusGus is an atypical band because they are pluridisciplinary and have a very artistic and experimental approach.

Réza Kalfane, long-time GusGus fan and photographer based in Rennes, France. Réza is deeply in love with Iceland and its vibrant culture since many years. Like Dominique, he follows the Icelandic musical scene from close and for him GusGus is a mythical band in Iceland and also outside of it. Réza especially loves their live performances that he experienced in many different countries in Europe. Each of these performances is different and fantastic to live. Réza also published a couple of books about Iceland including ÍSLAND, a beautiful black, white and silver photo book, designed by Florence.

What have we done before?

Florence and Réza published a couple of books under the small artisanal Éditions Sable Noir publishing house name, and are currently working on different editorial projects with various artists.

Their first book, ÍSLAND, was sold out in less than a year and was distributed through many specialized photo bookshops in Iceland, Europe, Asia. It had some press releases in specialized photography magazines, and was also shortlisted / nominated in a few photo book shows (in Arles, Paris, St Petersburg and Brighton).

How will we finance it?

We are planning to create a Karolina Fund campaign to finance at least half of the book project, the other half will come from sponsoring from various partners.

Sales will be used to finance the book fabrication, the time for designing, promoting, distributing the book, import taxes, delivery costs and any other activities linked to the project. This project is a true artistic project and not a commercial one, and most of the financing will be used to create a beautiful object.