êkhô is a graphic design and art direction studio. Most of our project are in Marseille (FR), Geneva (CH) and Barcelona (ES)

2020

In the name of ♥︎


Art direction | Writng | Book Design | 3D animation | Film | Poetry |

PRESS RELEASE  ︎︎︎
Order the book ︎︎︎
Read the article on Futuress ︎︎︎
In the name of ♥︎ is a 2-year research, written by êkhô studio and published by onomatopee. At the crossroads between semiotics, visual communication, poetry and political studies, the book explores the use of the heart symbol in the context of social media and far-right campaigns.




In 2003, Sara Ahmed wrote a paper titled In the name of love in Borderlands e-Journal. After studying ‘hate groups’ renaming themselves as ‘organisations of love’, she exposes the misconception that love is only used by one side of politics and belongs to a single ideology. ‘Who claims love?’ Sarah Ahmed asks, ‘What does that language of love do? How does it work?’

This research starts from this paper and analyses the use of the heart symbol by far-right political movements. 

In parallel, it explores the origins of the heart as a symbol of love, often described as universal while its history suggests otherwise; it is closer to a corporate and political medium, embedded with contemporary imbalances of class, gender, and race.







Virtual book launch

 Dutch Design Week 2020

00:00 - Book Launch
01:14 - Who claims love?
03:43 - The 'origins' of the heart symbol
05:51 - The structure of the book
09:13 - Algorithms in social media
14:33 - Hate speech, love speech







Article in Futuress Magazine

In the Name of ♥

Claiming the Semiotics of Power, Colonialism & Capitalism.


“Go home. We love you. You’re special.” This is how Donald J. Trump ended a video message to his supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Among them were members of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Boogaloo, QAnon and Three Percenters—all white supremacist terrorist groups that have been repeatedly linked to racist death threats and violence. By the time the message was tweeted, the terrorists had already been inside the federal building for two hours, facing little resistance—especially in comparison to the deployment of the full force of the police against BLM protests just a few months prior. “Special” was indeed the lenient treatment of such groups, who were encouraged by a declaration of love from Trump. (...) 

Read the full of the article︎︎︎



The film


Voices: Claire Bonnet, Karina Imelda, Lou Nassiri, Rose Oger, Selflovetribute
Music production: Aimé
Music effects: Tim Widgar

Hovering a digitalised space, made of iced water and data center cooling fans, six people are reading a poem on the sexualisation of the female body and the idealisation of the nation-state.

This work was done in parallel of the research and exhibited together with the book at the Dutch Design Week 2020.  






Exhibition 

The project was Exhibited at Onomatopee space, Eindhoven(NL), as part of the Dutch Design Week 2020.






Find the book



BOOKSHOPS AND LIBRARIES

AU / NZ

- Booktopia(AU)
- Highgate Continental(AU)
- Perimeter(AU)
- The Nile(NZ & AU)

ASIA

- Kinokuniya(JP)





Contact us if you wish to add to this list ︎︎︎

Mark
© 2021 (êkhô studio)