Each issue is structured around a single idea exploring a spatial relationship. This idea serves as a catalyst for the public's reactions — a cell phone photo, a scribble on a napkin, a sentence jotted in a notebook. 

The reactions are collected and laid out not by curation, but by chronology – removing the editors’ influence as well as the originators'. Self aware, the objects occupy each page of the book, holding their own space. Within the rigid structure, each informal submission suggests something deeply human and intimate about its origin.

 direct object is released bi-annually, with the first issue expected to launch in July 2021. We have accepted 35 submissions, and are excited to provide a physical platform for them. In sharing these reactions, points of congruence, continuity, and difference are revealed. 

direct object is the product of close collaboration between Jocelyn Beausire, Peiran Tan, and Jeevika Verma. It originated as an extension of each individual’s research, as an experiment in positioning a book as a form of architecture — structuring non-hierarchical space for public inhabitation. With each page as a room containing a relationship from a single individual, the book becomes a series of illuminated windows — a composite view of a single idea.

Jocelyn Beausire, managing editor, is an artist, writer, and spatial researcher. Her performance-based work has been featured nationally and internationally, including with Yellow Fish Festival VI, On The Boards, La Wayaka Current, Chashama, and Base Experimental Arts + Space. She serves as editor of design journal ARCADE NW, and is a member of SOIL Gallery.

Peiran Tan, design lead, is a digital product and graphic designer, researcher, and translator. He is an editor, designer, and regular contributor at The Type, the earliest and leading research and media project about typography and graphic design culture in China.

Jeevika Verma, editorial lead, is a poet and journalist who currently works as a producer on NPR’s Morning Edition, and as the poetry editor at Kajal Magazine. Her work has been featured in or at NPR, WNYC, Electric Literature, Filter, Ploughshares, Crosscut, The Juggernaut, The Seattle Globalist, Alaska Airlines Magazine, among others.

We are a fledgling, volunteer-run arts organization that needs funding to print our first issue! We are excited to build more connections to the art, architecture, and small print publishing communities, so please don't hesitate to reach out about potential collaborations or in-kind donations.