In 2012 in a forest outside the German city of Leipzig the author of the book, Kat Dogtok, discovered a kind of signature for the first time. The rather casual and seemingly random symbol resembles a zig-zag line and it‘s meaning did not came accessible to her. In the following weeks, months and years, the ethnologist and social scientist repeatedly saw these „zig-zags“ in and around Leipzig
This is followed by an intensive search for further perpetuations and research into the authorship and meaning of the line. Dogtok follows the trail and can quickly make a pattern based on the places and circumstances in which the sign appears. Also, the phantom behind the logo seems to visit the designated places regularly again and also marks them several times.
The omnipresence of the characters is reminiscent of Joseph Kyselak, Walter Josef OZ Fischer and the New Yorker PRAY, although the author does not use letters and therefore does not seem to sign them. Nevertheless, the author can establish a kind of handwriting and commit to the work of a single person in meticulous detective work.
The scientist draws parallels with tramp’s signs, the squiggles of the Hamburg-based OZ, the Morse alphabet and interprets the creation of the phantom as a graffiti-like „I was here-phenomenon“ without being able to identify artistic roots.
„Verehrtes Phantom“, is a tribute and a letter at the same time, but also an invitation to readers to follow the „zig-zag traces“ and to examine their environment for similar phenomena and to perceive it in a new way. In order not to destroy the game of hide and seek around the myth of the phantom, the exposure is not the main focus. The route is the game.
72 pages, 15,5 cm x 23 cm
Author: Kat Dogtok
Language: German
Release date: April 2017 (1st Edition)
Publisher: Possible Books
New edition available:
15,00 €Add to basket
