So-Ky: Getting Mighty Hungary
Published in 1984, Aradi Nora So-Ky Kepzomuveszeti Kiado Aradi Nora, is a collection of 34 posters created by the Hungarian design duo, So-Ky. I picked it up in Budapest when was traveling in the Eastern Bloc as a student in the late 80’s, and since then it’s been one of my most influential and inspirational possessions. I’m going to try and get a translation of the text, all of which is in Hungarian, and I suspect reveals quite a bit about the political and aesthetic motivations of this most prodigious team. I’ve managed to find one copy selling for €50 at the Parisian rare-book store, Librairie la Poussière du Temps, located in Saint-Germain at 16 Rue de Tournon, and it’s also available online through the same link. I highly recommend that you get your hands on this collection, it’s peerless as both as a memento of late European Communism, as well as a stunning exemplar of the graphics that accompanied this tumultuous age. In addition to the poster collection, a 30 page black and white catalog of earlier poster work, as well as a selection of late-communist era logotypes, is included.
