Book Show

3 Jul – 4 Sep 2010
Eastside Projects, Birmingham, Uk

Nina Beier + Marie Lund, Ulises Carrión, Daniel Eatock, Martino Gamper, Nina Katchadourian, Moritz Kung + Richard Venlet, Kelly Large, John Latham, Fraser Muggeridge Studio, Rollo Press, Katerina Šedá + Radim Peško, Yann Sérandour, Simon Starling, Werkplaats Typografie, Keith Wilson. Curated by James Langdon and Gavin Wade.

‘Book Show’ is an exhibition of artworks, objects and structures that address the physical form of the book. The starting point for the exhibition is Ulises Carrión’s provocative series of aphorisms ‘The New Art of Making Books’ (1975). Carrión was the founder of Other Books and So in Amsterdam, a gallery and bookstore that during its short life (1975 to 1979) became the first major centre for the flourishing international artist-led publishing scene.

Carrión’s text establishes the specific conditions of the book as a display device:

A book is a sequence of spaces. Each of these spaces is perceived at a different moment—a book is also a sequence of moments.
A book is not a case of words, nor a bag of words, nor a bearer of words.
A writer, contrary to the popular opinion, does not write books.
A writer writes texts.

Carrión’s perspective on the form of the book de-emphasises any inherent union between the material form of the book and its printed contents, and implies that each body of material to be made into a book must somehow be addressed to the display conditions that the book offers. Taken from the press release.

www.eastsideprojects.org