Federico Antonini’s crisply designed book combines two projects from Italian artist Cristian Chironi

My House is a Le Corbusier/Broken English is a two-sided book comprised of two different projects by Italian artist Cristian Chironi. The first project, My House is a Le Corbusier sees the artist documenting his experiences as he stays, for different periods of time, in houses designed by modernist architect Le Corbusier. For Cristian its a work in progress and he characterises the project as “a crucible of ideas, research and exhibition” that intends to build and grow over time. 

Broken English began life a performance piece four years ago and has since developed into a “multilayered exhibition with performative elements”. It manipulates parts of the English language into images, objects, sounds, videos and installations in order to raise linguistic and socio-economic issues. 

Federico Antonini designed the book for Italian publisher Nero, who produced the book. Federico has divided the tome into two sections, each with its own cover: “The reader can choose to begin with either of the projects. Intersecting and diverging, both projects raise questions surrounding communication, reading, interpretation and linguistic and socio-political implications,” says Cristian. 

In many of Federico’s projects he aims to investigate “the relationship between conceptual art and book design”. He succeeds with My House is a Le Corbusier/Broken English as the book manages to weave less tangible concepts into something physical and intriguing. 
The book is composed of sparse layouts with minimal text and images that keep the pages crisp and clean. At the centre of the publication are two essays that give the projects some context and give the book more weight. Using a colour palette of hot pink and burnt orange, Federico creates a clear divide between the two projects, yet the hues are close enough on the colour wheel to connect both concepts to Cristian.