r ' M!
A PROCESS RECORD
FROM A FRANGIBLE SURFACE
Claude Marzotto and Maia Sambonet (obelo)
42
LET ' S 0 PEN A 1920 S Encyclopedie Larousse
at the entry "Diagram": "Figure graphique, pro-
pre Ii representer un phenomene determine. (Syn. de
GRAPH IQ.!:!E.)" [Graphic image specifically represent-
ing a particular phenomenon. (Syn. ofGRA PH Ie.))
(see fig. I) . Let's place this definition side by side with
the Diagram of Forces by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy in a
1939 photog ram, (re)presenting the impression of
a creased piece of paper - an example of the "space-
time diagrams" that the author of Vision in Motion
(1947) came to recognize in every line ofa drawing,
every vein of a leaf, or every crack of peeling paint
- (eventually in any visible configuration) (see fig.
2). Let us then expand our visual reservoir to in-
clude the series Phenomena (Les Phenomenes) , the ex-
traordinary "atlas" oflithographs produced by Jean
Dubuffet between 1958 and 1962, a collection ofim-
pressionssurlevifincludingsoil, rocks, wall textures,
and incrustations (see fig. 3) .
As the safety distance of drawing collapses, the
graphic surface may turn into a receptacle of intend-
ed or accidental collisions and rubbing of matter.
This gives way to another kind of diagram, made
of imprints that report some hidden characteris-
tics of a physical interaction on its planar surface.
As, for example, in Max Ernst's frottages , where the
printed outcome, although it may be faithful to its
origin, may also disclose the wonder of an unex-
pected landscape .
CLA UDE MARZOTTo ,designer,and M AlA SAMBO NET,
visual artist, live and work as a designer duo in Milan.Their
sntdio 0 BELO is the space where they conduct an open
inquiry into the processes of image production.Since 20l2 , they
collaborate on editorial,visual identity, arid graphic design
projects. Ongoing experimentation with tools and languages
provides them with material to share through academic teaching
and workshops for adults and children. obelo is graphics,
workshop, and research.
This is the grou nd we moved on when we were asked
to release the telluric image of cracked soil to embed
this publication's cover.
Now let us take from our desk a European stan-
dard A4 sheet of paper, lay it on a wooden board,
and build a frame around it by nailing some cross-
bars along its sides. It's nowtime to move the sheet
across the board and keep multiplying the frames
until we achieve a grid that covers the entire work-
ing area. We can then prepare some cement paste
and pour it to fIll the internal spaces of this foun-
dation . Looking for a sundry outcome, we vary the
mixture for every casting by blending each time
different quantities of sand and other aggregates:
dust, filaments , soil, dirt, debris . The A4areas start
to take shape.
A few days later we remove from the open timber
frames a series of A4 sheets, solidified into irregular
 A PROCESS RECORD FROM A FRANGIBLE SURFACE

diagonal, e, aux adj . (du gr. dill . it travrt's.

aun carre.d'un recta71- '

gle 80nl egal "~' ,'
2}-
----------.
et g<lnia. angle). Se dit d'une droite qui joint de ux
sommets non consecutifs d'nn polygone. N . f . Cetl c
droite : l es diayonalcs
:
" u
diagonale- A / "
ment [man j adv. En : :
tliagonaie. - - - - - - - - - -- - J
Diagoras f rass 1 A, B, diagOlwle.
de lIelo8, philosophe
grec, sllrnomm e l'Athee ( \.• s. avo ,I.-C . l.
diagramme [!Ira-me] n.Ul.(gr. dia!Jml/lma~. Fi ­
gUl'e graphique. propre il representer lin pMno·
mene detennine. (Syn. de GRAPHlQl1 K. ) Bot . Dw-
gramme d'une fleur. soMe de plan oil sont 'repre-
sentes Ie nombre et la disposition r elative des pieces
de ses lVerticilJes. , 43
di~amme [gra-me ] n. m, Gem'e de. pois ·
sons ~thopteres. famille des pristipomatid es, r,'n -
fermani d e nomhreuses especes, d e taill e onoyennc.
i\ livree argenl e~ , habitant toutes les me l's chautl es .
diagraphe n. m. (du gr. dia, il travers, et. yr a-
phein, dessinco·j. Instrument, qui pe rmet tie repro-
duire. sans connaito-e Ie dessin et d'apr" s Ie principe
de la chambre claire, les objeh qu on a devant les
yeux.

1 "Diagram" definition . Larousse universe/. Paris: Librairie
Larouss e, 19 22 .
2 Lasz lo Moholy-Nagy. Diagram of Forces. 193B-43.
Gelatin silver print, photogram. Museum of Fine Art s,
Houston, Te xas, USA / Museum purchase fund ed by
th e 5. 1. Morris Photography End owment/ Bridge man
Images.

and frangible double-faced objects. The next step is
to put some black printing ink on a smooth tile using
a rubber print roller. The roller collects a thin layer
of ink from the tile and then is rolled over the con-
crete plate. Its pressure breaks the surface along the
lines of weakness, which have been determined by
the casual distribution of the aggregates within the
cast. While releasing a layer of color on the eleva-
tions that it rubs on its way, the roller retains some
of the dust and particles delivered from the con-
crete's breaches. Like in offset printing, the cliche
does not come into direct contact with the paper:
it is the rubber roller that retains the impression of
the original surface and transfers this information
to the new terrain.
The roller's capacity and memory is confined to
the cylinder's surface area, which is slightly small-
erthan A4 . At the second turn of the rolleroverthe
paper, a fainter image is repeated after the first in
a fading sequence. On the other hand, every time
the roller moves on the cliche, it alters irrevocably
its anatomy by breaking it into different lumps and
eventually destroying it.
Rather than a mechanical reproduction from
one original to many copies, the combination of
the material's fragility with the roller's mechanics
set a peculiar transmission scheme, performed una
tantum and from one to one only. "It seems that the
prints can only be referred to in the plural. precise-
ly since it seems only to exist in particular: particu-
lars, such as every place in which the print is oper-
ative (according to the material, texture, plasticity
of the substrate); particulars, such as every dynam-
ic,gesture, operation in which the imprinthappens"
(Didi-Huberman II; Trans. obelo).
The roller touches without seeing anything. The
image it returns after each time it travels over the
surface is a faithful graphic restitution of the con-
tact points resulting from a tactile relief. Like a sat-
ellite, telescope, or microscope view, the visual data
 r 'M !

produced by this manual tool are elicited atan unfa-

miliardistance and thus elude an univocal interpre-
tation. while offering in exchange its own principles
of order and measure . In the blind spot of vision . at
the highest contact point. images are free to evade
the control of the mapping eye (see fIgs. 4- 15).

.. ...---- Works Cited

44

Didi-Huberman . Geo rges. La ressemblal1ce par contact:

Arc/leologie. allac/lrorlislne et modernite de l'e mpreil1te.
Paris: Edirions de Mi n uir. 2008. Print.
Larol.lsse universe!. Ed . Claude Auge. 2 vols . Paris:
Librairie Laro usse. 1922. Print.
Moholy-Na gy. Laszl 6. Diag ralll of Forces. 1938- 43.
Phorogra m .
Moholy-Nagy. Laszl 6. Visi ol1 ill Motion . Chicago: Pa ul
Theobald . 1947. Prinr.
Dubufett. Jean . Les Phellom enes ( Ph ell0111el1a). 1958-
62. Prinrs.

3 Jea n Dubu ffe t.lithographies: serie

des Phenomenes. Book cover. Paris :
Berggruen. 1960.
A PROCESS RECORD FROM A FRANGIBLE SURFACE

4S

4-9 A4 concrete plates .

A PROCESS RECORD FROM A FRANGIBLE SURFACE

47
 r' M!

48

10 - 15 abelo, Concrete diagrams. 2015.

Monoprint series, offset
print ing ink on coat ed paper.
A4s ize.
A PROC ESS RECORD FROM A FRANGIBLE SURFACE

49