A couple having sex metamorphoses into a
crocodile. Fish eyes from some weird creature float on the surface of the sea,
staring at me. A man is riding his own coffin. Text accompanies these surreal
images, handwritten, seemingly ancient but totally unintelligible. I’ve just
stepped into the bizarre universe of Codex
Seraphinianus, the weirdest encyclopedia in the world.
Like a guide to an alien world, Codex
Seraphinianus is 300 pages of descriptions and explanations
for an imaginary existence, all in its own unique (and unreadable) alphabet,
complete with thousands of drawings and graphs. Issued for the first time in
1981 by publisher Franco Maria Ricci, it has been a collector’s favorite for
years, before witnessing a sudden rise in popularity thanks to a growing fandom
on the Internet. Now a new-and-improved edition from Italian publisher Rizzoli
is about to hit bookshelves on Oct. 29, with 3,000 pre-ordered copies already
sold out. The Codex attracts a new generation of fans, people who
grew up surfing the net and eager to explore the exciting and relentless world
outside, as bizarre as it is depicted in the book.
The author, Luigi Serafini, born in Rome
in 1949, is an Italian architect-turned-artist who also worked in industrial
design, painting, illustration and sculpture, collaborating with some of the
most prominent figures in contemporary European culture. Roland Barthes gladly
accepted to write the prologue to the book, but after his sudden death the
choice fell to Italo Calvino, who mentioned it in his collection of essays Collezione di
sabbia. Another admirer was Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini,
to whom Serafini offered a series of drawings for his very last movie La voce della
Luna.
Serafini’s amazing studio, a few steps
from the Pantheon in the center of Rome, reveals everything about his fantasy
world. Wandering around the place is like having a journey through a lysergic
version of a Kubrick movie set, or a pyrotechnical staging of Alice in
Wonderland. The imaginary space of the Codexspreads
across the real world, a virtual-reality short-circuit even more powerful than
the one created by technology itself.
Interested about the book? click here.
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