Abstract
The “dematerialization” of books and the enthronization of “e-pistemology” have found a counterbalance: the return of the physical book as an artistic object. The printed-book predicament has paradoxically fertilized the ground for a conceptually driven, pre-Guttenberg notion of “book” as artistic medium. This paper examines the current state of affairs with respect to the “art-book”. Historically structured, the analysis is introduced by pre-Modern models of handmade books such as Medieval and early Renaissance illuminated manuscript, and Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican codices. William Blake’s illuminated books (and his nostalgia for book hand-making in the midst of the industrial revolution) serve as a bridge between pre and postindustrial notion of book production, circulation and consumption. The paper concentrates on the contemporary situation, starting by the 1960s coincidences between the intellectual propositions by the Conceptual Art movement and John Debes’s notion of “visual literacy”. Case studies include from early conceptual art’s book projects such as The Xerox Book (1968), edited/curated by Seth Siegelaub, and On Kawara’s twenty books series One Million Years (1969–1981), until the work of 21st century artists such as Noriko Ambe.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Publishing Practices: Past, Present, and Future
KEYWORDS
Art-Books, Editorial Design, Visual Arts, Typography, Conceptualism, Visual Literacy, Epistemology
