A collector’s edition that transforms Joe Lycett’s anarchic humour into a maximal, multi-sensory experience – where material excess, theatrical design and playful ephemera collide to create a truly spectacular object.

 

Art Hole Special Edition reimagines the format as both a site of performance and a platform for critique. Developed closely with Joe Lycett, the design extends the artist’s irreverent, theatrical practice into print, transforming the book into an object that both participates in and parodies the conventions of luxury publishing. Rather than framing collectability through restraint or refinement, the edition leans into excess — using spectacle, humour and materiality to explore ideas of value, authorship and display.​ At its centre is a system of layered design strategies that balance maximalism with control:

​

Material Spectacle: A holographic foil cover, neon silkscreening, a die-cut reveal and ombré printed edges create a deliberately attention-seeking object. The die-cut hole is a direct expression of the book’s concept — framing Lycett’s face and inviting the reader in through an irreverent act of exposure, setting the tone for the book’s playful subversion.

​

Artefactual Ephemera: Seven bespoke inserts — from a wine-stained cheque to cerulean glasses — extend the book’s narrative into physical space. These playful artefacts build on the book’s internal logic, reinforcing its layers of fantasy and joke, and blurring the boundary between fiction and reality.

​

Participatory Extras: Stickers, postcards and a saddle-stitched, IKEA-inspired zine invite the reader to engage directly with the work. These elements turn the book into a site of interaction, where reading becomes an active, performative experience.

​

Integrated Housing: A custom envelope and internal pocket secure the ephemera, while a holographic-foiled kraft sleeve wraps the whole object — balancing spectacle with structure to ensure the chaos remains carefully choreographed.

​

The special edition deliberately resists the solemnity often associated with collectable publishing. Instead, it embraces theatricality and satire as serious design strategies, using surface, structure and participation to stage a commentary on the mechanics of value and prestige in art and publishing. Every element — from the structural systems to the tactile details — contributes to a cohesive performance of excess, where the book’s production is as much part of the narrative as the artworks it contains.​ Through this approach, the Art Hole Special Edition becomes not just a document of Lycett’s practice, but an extension of it — an unapologetically extravagant, self-aware object that turns reading into an experience
of play, mischief and critique.

​

Artist & Author: Joe Lycett

Art Direction, Design & Layout: Billie Temple & Joe Lycett 

Published by Trapeze (an imprint of Orion Books)

Creative team: Joe Lycett, Billie Temple, Lucy Kane, Aidan Butler, James Kettle and Rhik Samadder.