ich ein Berliner

While I am very disheartened to learn that Moleskine notebooks are Made In China . . .[ always have been !!! ], I have to admit I am thrilled by what's happening to them in Germany at the moment. Dropboxes have been set up on various street corners in Berlin to receive creative notebook essays on the German city submitted by a range of creative people. This program, Detour, launched its annual exhibits in London in 2006, followed by New York '07 and Paris '08.

As the mission statement describes, entrants are invited "to invent an itinerary for an expedition, a map of a tour, a daily adventure, the discovery of something to look forward to, the beginning of a trip, the signs of well known or unknown visionary places, the exploration or the conquest of a region never visited before, as well as something in the city constantly seen and beloved. "

The chosen books from Berlin will be showed in Istanbul in the spring of 2009. Exhibitions are staged so that attendees may don white gloves and turn the pages of each notebook on display.

I highly recommend watching a few of the videos of artists turning the pages of their books. From the London archives I enjoyed this from Birgit Brenner :

The inked New York from London Illustrator Chris Dent is fantastic :

Stefano Faravelli's watercolor journey is worth taking :

Proceeds from Detour support letter27, a non-profit that supports literacy, education + access to information in parts of the world most in need. Some of their projects in Africa include WikiAfrica and WikiAfrica Art. Send a literary e-card while you're learning more about their amazing work, like this one from South African writer, editor + poet, Karen Press.