Collider co-founder Andrew van der Westhuysen announces launch of debut book ‘Cabal’

(Cabal: Andrew van der Westhuysen, $150, available 12th December 2024, via the Collider Shop)

Collider co-founder and one of Australia’s pre-eminant creatives Andrew van der Westhuyen has announced the launch of his debut book Cabal, the first in a series of illustrated science-fiction short story works.

Marking the culmination of two decades of illustrative and writing exploration of cli-fi survivalism, technological advancement and a uniquely visualised world, Cabal documents a thought-provoking series that pays homage to van der Westhuysen’s passion for nature and the environment.

Less of a traditional graphic novel and more illustrated short story, Cabal is a meandering journey, both a provocation and celebration of technology and human invention and its relationship to the living world.

The story was born through van der Westhuyen’s childhood spent in nature in New Zealand’s countryside and a move to the city, a transition that sparked conflict between a love for fast moving innovation and the remoteness of being in the environment. It was this feeling that spawned bringing both ideas together through a survival story, one where technology and invention helps and hinders in a natural setting. Through the Sci-fi genre, he has communicated the tale through the bending of typical narrative rules.

Says van der Westhuysen: “I am incredibly proud to bring the Cabal world into the real world and breathe life into this 20-year odyssey. Collider has provided me with a platform to experiment with a visual journey and this is only the first chapter in a much more extensive series. The issues of the day make this the ultimate time to launch Cabal, and I hope it will serve as a stimulus to provoke readers to consider new ideas at a time where climate change and nature are colliding with the rapid pace of technology, part bettering and part marring our world.”

With a background of over two decades in design and animation, Van der Westhuyen’s passion for exploring the interconnected mediums culminates in the creation of the Cabal world. Over the past two decades, he has won a number of major awards for a variety of projects, including a Gold Lion at Cannes for his work with the Sydney Opera House motion identity and a D&AD wooden pencil for book design. Van der Westhuyen has been involved in many large scale international projects, notably a two minute animated take-over of Times Square in New York City for the Nelson Mandela Foundation. He has also advised on concept and production design on a number of award-winning short-film projects including Daniel Askill’s We Have Decided Not To Die and his recent short film, Universal Machine where van der Westhuyen consulted extensively for the design of the android character.

Cabal is van der Westhuyen’s first book, drawing on years of creative direction, campaign and design sensibilities. It is designed as an A3 large format book that celebrates typography, uses strong bold colour and hybrid digital illustration.

Cabal by Andrew van der Westhuysen will be available to purchase 12th December 2024, via the Collider Shop

Learn more about Cabal here: https://projectcabal.com/.