“We’re fighting the corporate monotone of obviousness”
Peter Kormanyos is a strategist for TBWA advertising agency in Amsterdam, and he has also published a strange and intriguing new magazine called Purgatory Sandwich. It’s an A5 zine, staple bound with risograph printed covers – nothing very unusual there. But this launch edition is split into two separate issues, which are presented together in a brown paper sandwich bag, promising what it calls, “Experimental fuckaroundery for lunchbreaks”.
There’s a gleeful sense of chaos to it all, which is helped along by designer Gean Santos, whose collaged graphics and disruptive typography provide their own abrasive disorder. So I was surprised that when I started reading the magazine, rather than finding rabble-rousing texts stoking rebellion, I came across quite sweet imaginings of potential client projects, and funny thought experiments. As you’ll hear, it’s all tied together by Peter’s ongoing battle with, “the corporate monotone of obviousness,” and his desire to get away from sensible consensus, towards something more individual and interesting.
I discovered this one via Marc Robbemond, who runs the magazine selection at the Athenaeum bookshop in Amsterdam. We met up in London recently and he gave me a bag full of interesting print stuff from the city – there seems to be a huge amount of independent publishing activity over there and I’m sure it’s being stoked by Marc and the shop, so I was also interested to speak with Peter about the inspiration and encouragement he has found there. I hope you’ll enjoy this slightly weird conversation about a very weird magazine, and if you want to hear more like this, we have loads of episodes waiting to be discovered in our podcast archive.
