Galpão da Lapa, volume 3: Apaixonados

The design of this third volume for Galpão da Lapa was developed in close connection with the exhibition design for Apaixonados (“Passionate”). The show brought together works by contemporary Brazilian artists in a display that emphasized interaction, both among the artworks and with the space, sometimes by affinity and sometimes by contrast. This dynamic was spatially translated into a layout of curved concrete-block walls, shaping the exhibition space into zones of pause and interaction, where voids, textures, and shadows also played an active role in the narrative.

The book seeks to reflect this same spatial and poetic logic in its graphic and material structure. The dust jacket, featuring a die-cut pattern derived from the architectural design, acts much like the perforated walls of the exhibition: at times revealing, at others concealing images and information, creating layers of reading and points of contact between content and materiality. The choice of papers was fundamental to support this concept.

We selected a black 290 g/m² paper for the dust jacket for its solid color and natural texture, which allows for precise die-cutting without exposing white corners, while preserving structural integrity – reinforcing the idea of shadow and material presence, also central to the exhibition design – while alluding to the negative spaces formed by the curved walls. For the cover, a warm gray 120 g/m² paper was chosen for its texture and subtle tone, echoing the color of the exhibition walls and allowing for black offset printing of the title and artist names, partially hidden beneath the dust jacket, which carries only a white silkscreen print on the spine.

Inside, the book alternates between a coated paper – ensuring high-quality image reproduction – and an uncoated off-white paper for the first and last sections. These opening and closing pages feature more abstract, black-and-white details of the artworks, marking the beginning and end of the book with purely graphic interludes.

These choices align with the architectural concept of Galpão da Lapa, a former 19th-century industrial warehouse in São Paulo’s Lapa neighborhood, repurposed to host temporary exhibitions of Brazilian contemporary art. The publication is part of a bilingual series (Portuguese and English) documenting the exhibitions held in the space. Each volume was designed to establish a specific graphic relationship with the curatorial and spatial proposal of its show. In this edition, the book assumes a more tactile, sensorial character, functioning not only as a visual documentation, but as a physical object that carries, within its materiality and graphic structure, the concept of the exhibition and the identity of the space itself.

The book was one of the winners of the AIGA 50 Books | 50 Covers of 2024.

Photos: Nino Andrés and Allec Gomes