BLACK BOOKS
These Black Books have three main components - the clamshell box, the diptych format, and what is inside.
The box is of varying size and weight, but always black, with the title debossed into the cover.
The diptych format, intrinsic to the codex book format, is fundamental to my concept - that the two sides are related to each other in ways that must be imagined. The "reader" opens the book to see them in a flat space; when the book is closed, the "pages" face each other.
The contents of the book are visual and haptic - the books must be handled to be seen. Readers must dare to open the black box; having read the title while doing so, and viewed the contents, they can conjecture what continues to happen in that dark space when they have closed the book and put it back on the shelf - hence they are "conjectural books".
They were first shown at Camberwell College Library in the "Overdue" exhibition, starting 26 October 2011.
The box is of varying size and weight, but always black, with the title debossed into the cover.
The diptych format, intrinsic to the codex book format, is fundamental to my concept - that the two sides are related to each other in ways that must be imagined. The "reader" opens the book to see them in a flat space; when the book is closed, the "pages" face each other.
The contents of the book are visual and haptic - the books must be handled to be seen. Readers must dare to open the black box; having read the title while doing so, and viewed the contents, they can conjecture what continues to happen in that dark space when they have closed the book and put it back on the shelf - hence they are "conjectural books".
They were first shown at Camberwell College Library in the "Overdue" exhibition, starting 26 October 2011.
FIELD POTENTIAL
The term "field potential," used in physics and neurophysiology, refers to the difference in electrical charge across a gap. When the book is closed, do electrons jump the gap and make a current flow? Do creative sparks fly?
Notebook ("Reports" - to be filled in by tutor - from Camberwell College of Arts and Crafts, possibly 1970s), reflective foil, screw, copper wire in clamshell box.
HERE AND THERE
"And where you are is where you are not ... here and there does not matter / We must be still and still moving" - TS Eliot,
Four Quartets
Four Quartets
Maps of London Underground and folded paper in clamshell box.
CARESS
"As if a phantom caress'd me / I thought I was not alone" - Walt Whitman
Gilded sandpaper, wire wool, velvet in clamshell box.
LUCKY
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" - Seneca
Lonely hearts column, share prices from newspaper (October 2011), gilded wishbone, silk thread in clamshell box.
RELEASE
"If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash" - Leonard Cohen
Fabric, burnt matchsticks, feathers in clamshell box.
WHISPER
"Whisper words of wisdom, let it be" - The Beatles
Tissue paper, reflective foil in clamshell box.
UNTITLED (MALICE)
"Every other enjoyment malice may destroy" - Samuel Johnson
Aluminium foil, elastic, pins in clamshell box.
UNHEARD
Unplayable?
Sheet music, tracing paper, reflective foil, audiotape, headphones in clamshell box.