Conversations about the Book

Camberwell Based Discussion Group If  ifnotes.tumblr.com

MA BOOK ARTS EXHIBITION EVENT

We met in this exhibition space (below) next to the shop. This work is by Katy Binks katybinks.tumblr.com

We looked at the Book Arts exhibition guide and discussed some questions raised in it

Here's my understanding of our discussion ....read more on ifnotes.tumblr.com

What is book arts in this digital age? Is it a well bound book: an example of fine binding? Is a kindle a book? Does a book have to have a structure, mass and contents? Book Arts is all the art that references the book or is created out of or because of the book. Book Arts is hard to define and classify especially when it includes digital and performance but it does sit in contemporary art and borrows from other disciplines.

We can look beyond and before the codex. The reader can have a different reading experience when the structure becomes part of the reading and words are made visible. The book can also be used as a support for artistic questioning. It can be taken apart in the critical environment of an MA course.


I now want to give more thought to the formal qualities of the book and the performative nature of the readers' interaction with it.

'In-Folds' is an excellent exhibition guide that is easy to use. Each artist's work is photographed on an double spread that is referenced by page number to artist's statement and contact details at the back of the guide.