Kyrillos
Sarris
|
Difficulties
of Showing Books |
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Kyrillos
Sarris
11
Months (notebook),
2000
Kyrillos
Sarris
La
Nuit Noire Théorique,
1998
|
The
book is the means for a private transaction between the "author" and the
"reader". The response lies entirely in the hand of the reader. A book
can be flicked through, opened in the middle, read slowly, started at the
end, but it cannot be presented publicly with these freedoms and remain
in its natural state, unless it is experienced privately in a public situation.
Clive
Phillpot
|
|
Kyrillos
Sarris
Readings,
2001 |
I
use the ‘book’ as a form of art, because I have the conviction that art
itself is not a constitutive element of social life. Civilization is a
private venture.
When I decided to
show my books, I stumbled upon the contradiction concerning the private
and the public aspect of the whole project.
In order to overcome
this –at least partially– I devised three versions of ‘simulated readings’.
FIRST a video installation
consisting of two monitors showing the actual reading of Ulises Carrión’s
book and also the leafing through my own books, SECOND the sequential imaging
of the pages of two of my books (The Journey of a Full Stop and
A
Rebours) in scroll form, THIRD by placing the books themselves under
perspex cases and demanding that the pages be turned daily by the curator.
Kyrillos
Sarris, März 2001
 |
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Kyrillos
Sarris
Word-Objekt
from Finnegan’s Wake, 1998-2000 |
|
Demosthene
Agrafiotis
|
Artist’s books
/ Artwork books. A short conceptual guide |
Demosthene
Agrafiotis
Clinamen,
1980-1990 |
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|
…In the 1960s a
new variety of books emerged in the cultural horizon –the ‘artwork-books’
or ‘artist’s books’. These creations lay claim to the title of art objects
since they employ language, images and writing as raw materials rather
than vehicles of meaning, and aim to explore even the very nature of books
as cultural conventions. Above all, the ‘artwork-books’ or ‘artist’s books’
aspire to pose questions regarding the image, writing and the book as physical
object and work of art; to trigger hitherto unknown sensations, thoughts,
fantasies and pleasures.
…The origins of ‘artwork
books’ –i.e. books which are works of art in themselves rather than the
means for the diffusion of another work of art (poetry, painting, photography,
etc.)– are multiple… [and associated] …with the desire for alternative
art to exist in parallel… with the "utopia" of abolishing the boundaries
between artist and non-artist, between production and distribution, between
high and minor art… Today this world assumes especial importance as modern
technologies promise the advent of books without paper and the distribution
of information through information super highways.
... It is for this
reason that the term ‘artist’s books’ also encompasses the terms ‘artwork
books’, ‘object books’, ‘performance books’, ‘conceptual books’…
The adventure of
Clinamen
forms part of this trend, this drift of initiatives...
Demosthene
Agrafiotis |
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