The Manipulator

Possibly the world’s largest publication ever coming in at 700 x 500 mm (27.5 x 19.68 in). To read the enormous size means that it can only be read when it is rested on a (large) flat surface. Despite distribution hassles the creators thought that the advantages of producing an unusually size magazine outweighs the disadvantages. They wanted the alternative publication to have edge over the conventionally size magazine. “The magazine was born in 1984 in into a world almost unimaginable today: no cell-phones, no internet, no Adobe Photoshop, no digital cameras. In those quondam times, it was the cordless phone, the fax machine, the colour-copier and the Apple IIc that defined the technologically savvy” as explained by founder Johnno du Plessis on The Manipulator’s website. The over-large format was the perfect stage to showcase photography helping collapse the separation of commercial and fine arts. Electrifying images started appearing not on gallery walls but in magazine editorials and advertising. The magazine printed enthralling content about architecture, design, art and photography in gargantuan size. Even though the publication ceased in 1994 the inspiration lives on. —Jeanette Abbink