Abstract
This paper questions why conventions associated with the page generate such an impact on the way we engage and read an opened book. Through a practice-based research, I investigate how the illusion of mirroring and echo, the fold and the suggestion of text, generate a fundamental shift in the perception and reading of the double page. The enquiry focuses on identifying which elements are bonded to the symbolic image of the opened book and how these can be unmasked to become a discursive space and material support to express visual ideas within a fine art context. In order to understand why the double page becomes an expanded space for site-specific practice, I analyse the following key aspects: the notion of reading in the space of the page; the perception of formal elements such as mirroring, echo, and reflection as transferors of connotations; the fold as a metaphorical element; and the double page as a site. The research analyses how the dual form of the page originated and how it has forged an image icon becoming one of the most important vehicles for the transmission of ideas and culture and investigates how connotations associated with the book condition the way we read and absorb meaning. The exploration of Stephane Mallarmé’s last and revolutionary poem Un Coup de Dés frames and marks the point of departure by revealing new ways of approaching the materiality of the page to develop non-linear narratives.
Presenters
Altea Grau VidalPost-doctoral Research Fellow, Fine Art, University for the Creative Arts, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Aesthetics, Reading, Fine Art Practice, Double-page, Artist Book, Printmaking
