Non-human intelligence helped to put together the artistic side of Ringier’s annual report this year. Katja Novitskova scanned the internet for treasures and fed them into an algorithm machine. It resulted in an astonishing panoply of images. It is the printing machine that makes the connection with the physical world, bringing the work to paper. What emerges is a book that links passing and new worlds. The artist aims to preserve the present in a time capsule for the future. But why a printed book? ‘Things are real only when they’re printed,’ says Novitskova.

Russian-born Estonian Katja Novitskova now lives in Berlin and Amsterdam. Her work revolves around evolutionary processes and the question of how media processes influence and change the world. She gained worldwide renown in 2010 for her Post Internet Survival Guide.

The artistic part of the annual report is complemented by an expansion into the digital world; the figures section has graphic elements that activate augmented reality elements when called up by a specially designed app. These supplement the information of the past year in a multimedia way.

So the two parts – art and figures – each reflect in their own way the transformation that Ringier has undergone in this decade – from a print publishing house to a predominantly digital company.

The Ringier Annual Report 2017 is available in German, French and English, and can be ordered or downloaded.

Ringier AG, Corporate Communications