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Neuland Magazin

Stofer is a regular contributor to Neuland Magazin, contributing 13 articles since its inception in 2010. His essays have explored diverse topics including ‘Thames or not Thames’ – the impact of the temporary removal of the Thames from the tube map in 2009; ‘Chewing gum’ – gum as a permanent keeper of our DNA and its potential for cloning; ‘It doesn’t rain money in London’ – the invention of the umbrella and James Smith & Sons; ‘Kunst ist Herrlich (Art Is almighty)’ – a review of the first solo show of the Swiss-born artist Urs Lüthi at Gallery S O in London.

Neuland is an online journal published every two months. It acts as a new and independent platform for discussion and exploration of new territories of thinking. It aims to promote different ways of sharing knowledge through a condensed and interdisciplinary format. Neuland has gained a reputation as an innovative online platform for new ideas and as a new model of online journalism.

Stofer’s articles are written in a distinctive narrative format, with the intention of offering a close-grained observation of aspects of life in contemporary London. Their innovation lies in the concise format and juxtaposition of image and text, using words as image/pattern, a strategy which invites the reader to reflect further and ‘read between the lines’. A recent innovation has been the adoption of alternative presentation conventions, such as postcard and text messaging formats, in order to create ever more concise ways of conveying meaning.

As a direct outcome of the publication of the Neuland series, Stofer was invited to give a lecture at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (2013). The lecture, ‘To make a mark’, further explored the theme of the need to make our presence visible (a subject addressed in several of Stofer’s Neuland articles).