Oddkin

Rada Nastai

Book Release⎢Sat. November 7, 17 - 20 hr

einBuch.haus / Lindenstr. 91, 10969 Berlin 

Oddkin, the forthcoming bruise studio book, takes its title from Donna Haraway's concept of unconventional kinship and community. It traces the relationship between Romanian sculptor Gheza Vida and his remarkable, eccentric collection of cacti. A committed socialist and humanist, Vida walked from northern Romania to fight in the Spanish Civil War, where he encountered and fell in love with cacti for the first time, gathering a handful of seeds. For the next four years, as he was captured and transferred between labour camps in France and Germany, he kept them in a leather pouch against his chest. Upon his escape, he returned to his home in Baia Mare and planted them. By his death in 1986, the collection had grown to 4,000 plants.

The collection's story did not end there. Moved to the city council museum and later to municipal greenhouses, it has since weathered harsh winters, losses, and dispersals; plants killed by cold, taken, traded, or sold. Today, a few hundred survive in a city greenhouse ill-suited to their needs.

The book brings together archival photography sourced from the city, the sculptor's family, and friends, alongside research conducted by photographer Rada Nastai in her hometown. Printed in black and white and CMYK risography, in an edition of 130 numbered copies and 30 artist copies, the work is narrated by the self-avowedly unreliable voice of Nastai herself, weaving together historical fact and the anecdotes, myths, and local lore that have accumulated around both the cacti and the singular figure Vida has become in the city's imagination. 

Rada Nastai

Rada Nastai`s photography, installations and artist books have been exhibited and collected by institutions like MoMa book collection in New York, Weserburg Museum for Modern Art in Bremen, Salon für Buchkunst in Vienna and Modern Art Museum Leon, Spain.

As head of bruise studio, Rada Nastai publishes an array of printed matter from pamphlets, zines, art-books and non-books. bruise studio started in 2019 as a small studio dedicated to the art of the book: from its conception to its resting on a shelf. bruise studio has been present at multiple art book fairs, such as Printed Matter in New York; Libros Mutantes in Madrid; and the Athens Art Book Fair. 

Rada Nastai publishes with the belief in the book as a centrepiece in the history of radical art making, as it archives communities, streams of thought, and generations of challengers of the mainstream. 
Rada Nastai`practice centres on photography, expanding it into publishing as a tool for experimentation. Using alternatives to print-making and storytelling, her intention is to amplify and elaborate on the power of the photographic image.