The Art of the Book

After reading over the first blog question and keeping “forms effect meaning” in mind, I was reminded of an example where the form of the book directly effected the way it interested me and how the form of a book has the power to be extremely effective or in some cases ineffective.

A couple of years ago I went to an art exhibition in New York, at a gallery called Central Booking. What was so interesting about this place was that its focus was on the art of the book. All the shows and exhibits the gallery has had have all focused around the “artist’s books and prints and their integration into the larger art world” (http://centralbookingnyc.com/about-central-booking). As the concept of the book as an object continually seems to be disappearing, it was, in a way, comforting to encounter a place that was solely dedicated to the detailing and production of books as individual works of art.

After the show I continued to visit their website and gush over all the beautiful and innovative forms of books these artists were creating. One artists work has always stuck with me and it came to mind after thinking about this blog question. The artists name is Helen Friel and she took Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Imp of the Perverse” and reconstructed it into an interactive object. (For anyone who isn't familiar with Poe's short story, it focuses on the narrator's self-destructive impulses. The narrator explains his theory on the Imp of the Perverse, which is that it causes people to commit acts against their self interest.)

So with Friel's version of this short story, the reader is instructed to tear and fold sections to piece the story together. The books form is directly asking the reader to do something they are most likely conflicted with---destroying a book. The form of this book effects how the reader feels about playing a role in the destruction of the traditional form, while creating a new one. 

I have always thought this book has been a great example of illustrating exactly what is lost with digital books, which is not only a solid interaction with what you are reading, but also the art of the book. Friel’s book asks the reader to physically engage with the object instead of just passively reading it.