PLY/BUK + BUK/STL

PLY/BUK

An inevitable partner to the Book/Stills: A series of operations wrought upon the book object, and various parts of the book object: its function, its valuation, its components, its physical types, its historical importance, its cultural meaning and the meanings associated with those who play with them, the works in this series touch on the theory and history of the book as markers of meaning and creators of universes, as playthings and decorations, as dispensable stuff and holders of glorious works. Educational at its corps, it is also a critical apparatus engaging with the fields and institutions that function around the book. And, o yeah: the experience of this audience within this work is not only playful, but turns into, a play. And… It is, of course, a road-map: a handbook with lots of ‘plays’ in it to be called upon in order to be able to advance. A playbook after all…

 

BUK/STL

Bookstills came into being with my own books. From L’opera minora, first, where the pages played on the visual and the calligraphic etc. Later, I was like, hey, if people don’t want to hold a whole book in their hand and read it, let’s put it on the floor, and on the walls, two pages at a time, nailing the whole book into the wall. Soon, The way of nailing, the type of wall the book occupied, the space of the appearance, all created an impact, and the various parameters would play a role: the type of book, the place, the scale, the materials etc… all became part of the overall significance. Public, and private.

Soon enough, other operations came to the fore: photographing books on sidewalks; rearrangements, as an artistic act; stackings and restackings; operations on books within libraries; Library revisions and reflections in general; Ephemeral vs. its opposite (eternal?); existing vs non-yet-existing…

Book/Stills has taken on a life of its own–and it’s ongoing. A constant operation on books as such. and rethinking of books conceptually, literarily, artistically.