From the opening words of the first issue of Garagisme, a beautiful 100-page A4 format magazine (10€) with no ads and the title “Car Cultures,” we know the focus is going to be cars, and all with a certain sense of refinement; the -ism in the title proves its sophistication. Garagisme tends toward the abstract, the lyrical, the unexpected, whether it’s the choice of texts, images or layout.
A double-page photo by Matthew Porter, probably taken in San Francisco, appears to show a car in midair about 30 feet off the ground. Let’s let the mystery be, and not search for clues in the Baudrillard quotation in the caption: “Beyond a hundred kilomters per hour, there’s a presumption of eternity.”
Later, in Euro Cars, Hana Miletic follows the Mercedes now banned in Europe due to tightened environmental regulations. Matthew Porter finds a replica of the car in Mad Max at a retired cop’s house in New York state, Sophie Brasey collects trucks on the island of Oahu and their tribal paintings, Thomas Mailaender reports on the Cathedral Cars on the port of Marseille, and Michael Massaia tracks the heavy loads at New Hersey truck stops.
In addition to its subjects, the right balance of text and image and high-level artistic direction makes Garagisme a pleasant surprise. It could have been taken a too radical stance stance against commercial automobile imagery, but the magazine has too fine a sense of humor, wonder and envy. Here’s looking forward to their next issue.
Antoine Soubrier
Garagisme
10 euros.
