Since 2016, the Dutch publisher Valiz and L’Internationale, a confederation of six major European art museums, have joined forces to produce a series of books addressing contemporary art and its relation to cultural, political and societal issues.

As part of this series, The Long 1980s considers the significance of the 1980s through a collection of microhistories that span the fields of art, culture, and politics. Central to the stories is the changing relationship between ideologies, governments, and their publics, the effects of which have come to shape the contemporary condition of Europe and beyond. Artists, writers, and activists were responding to and articulating these changes in myriad ways, while at the same time new subjectivities were emerging at the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality.

The book reflects its subversive and radical content through an outspoken and firm typographic style. Several elements are introduced to ensure high legibility and an overall great reading experience, such as the use of visual schemes and a lateral timeline to index the 60 projects presented in the book. Designed at studio George&Harrison in 2018.