Monte Packham: Concentric Circles

“Gerhard’s like a Communist. You have to go into the salt mines with him. If you’re willing to go there then you’re like brothers in arms and he’ll do what needs be.” Robert Polidori In August 2008 Monte Packham began taking notes of events unfolding around him during a typical working day as an editor at Steidl Publishers. Until January 2009 he made such daily jottings, candid observations of the organised chaos that is book-making at Steidl. These notes form the basis of Concentric Circles, the first book to depict the eclectic personalities and experiences that shape Steidl. Here the reader discovers the secret processes and comic facets of life at the publishing house: Günter Grass tapping tobacco into his pipe while refining the typography of his latest book, Gerhard Steidl at a Chanel fashion show or unsuccessfully trying to repair his fax machine, Paul Graham pondering binding materials, the sudden halt of the printing press… The book is enriched by interviews with and original texts by some of Steidl’s most important collaborators including Robert Frank, Karl Lagerfeld, Lewis Baltz, Jim Dine, Roni Horn, Tacita Dean, David Bailey and William Eggleston. Concentric Circles is both an unconventional portrait of Steidl Publishers and a compelling insight into the craft of book-making today. Monte Packham is a writer and editor living in Göttingen, Germany. Born in 1981 in Sydney, he has bachelor degrees with honours in art history and law from the University of Sydney. Packham’s writing has been published in Art & Australia, sleek and Another Magazine among others. Since 2007 he has worked as an editor at Steidl.