The Living Surface: Kizan Freijsen's Collection

“The Living Surface / An Alternative Biology Book on Stains (Second Edition)” is a collection of works by Lizan Freijsen, a Dutch female designer and artist. Lizan is an artist based in Rotterdam, who, after working at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, has taught at the Willem de Kooning Academy. She is an educator on media theory and public art through painting and photography. This book is composed of illustrations depicting "time," "process," and "change" through the "design" of "mold, stains, and bacteria," which Lizan has been researching for many years. It contains quite a niche study, including patterns and changes of "bacteria" that are not visible in everyday life, the appearance and propagation of fungi attached to vegetables and fruits, the deterioration, discoloration, and process of buildings, walls, floors, and ceilings, and the spread of the iridescent patterns of gasoline spilled on the street. At the end of the book, the color palettes of each illustration are presented, as well as carpets and blankets designed using those patterns. This is the long-awaited second edition of the collection, which received numerous awards from 2017 to 2018.