Pavel Kosatík: Emil the Runner
The biography of the legendary Olympic winner Emil Zátopek, who never gave up, on the track or in life in communist Czechoslovakia, is always on the move. Running as a central theme of existence, text and design starts on the cover of the book, where pagination begins with page number as well as time 00:10. It runs through the book, finishing on the back cover with the time of Zátopek’s 1954 Brussels 10,000 meters record – 28:54.2. Similarly, e.g. the 135th page of the book has the number of Zátopek’s Parisian 5000 m record – 13:57.2. With every turn of the page, the layout shifts from left to right. The pictures are pouring over the pages, as if they wanted to run over to the other side. And the book is dominated by orange athletic clay. “I read all of Zátopek’s records, 286 is the standard number of pages, it may fit. Then I conform to the idea and try to form the book so as to fit into a record,” comments Lednická. “There is always the risk it may not work out. There may be 20 pages missing and I no longer have photographs or text.” In that case the format becomes smaller. The typeface changes. “It works out just about. But the reader will not notice. He will think he has run through the book in world record time.” Exhausted? Run faster!
2015 Zuzana Lednická
Production estimated up to 14 days, the possibility of printing sizes S to XL
price 400 CZK