Northumbria University

“A system became necessary: how else could I in a concentrated way find something of interest which lends itself to continuation?”

Hanne Darboven

I have two projectors that I’ll be needing for the degree show booked, a huge worry off my shoulders!

I also had a tour around the Lit and Phil Library and got confirmation of a place in a book art exhibition being held there in June. It will be around the time the degree show is on, and will relate nicely as I’m turning the suspended, pierced sheets of paper and acetate from the projection into books. I also have the option of showing a spolvero stack “book,” acetate/ glass stack and suspended sheets of pierced acetate in the windows.

The venue has so many nooks and crannys that a good afternoon could be spent deciding where things could go…on the tops of cabinets, hidden in drawers, in the windows….conventional and unusual.

By using a range of images, ranging from those which do not move, those which appear not to be moving except for a change in light behing the piercing, and thoes which move quite obviously, will engage the viewer as they attempt to figure out what is actually being shown to them.

“Micro Pages” by Abigail Thomas…..

Leeds Metropolitan University…..

“Please wind the microfilm reader back to the start when finished”

While sharing a studio with a book maker, conversations about how her work may be presented occur on an almost daily basis. In micro form, however, has yet to be suggested…

“Micropages” is a unique, transportable exhibition which aims to raise a number of concerns surrounding the display of artists’ books; including creating the opportunity to discuss artists’ books and their display, encouraging engagement of public library users and promoting the traditional archival side of document preservation by using microfilm in a non traditional way.

A selected series has been turned into a reel of 35 mm microfilm and can only be accessed through specialist readers found in libraries and archival centres. Relating to the history of artists’ books and the future of preservation; the traditional handling of the books is eliminated. We get no sense of texture, smell or weight of the books; an extreme equivalent of placing books behind a glass case. The usual intimacy of the object has been removed, yet this has been replaced by the close inspection we must give in order to properly see these tiny images.

Our fingers become dangerous, potentially creasing, crumpling or smudging the pages, is the answer to flatten and silence the book through the removing of its function? Abigail Thomas has a new proposal; through a transformation of light. By converting the books to microfilm, a new mechanical function is needed to view them; the winding up of a machine replaces the customary page turning; while one element may be eliminated, a new one is established.

Selected Artists:
– Sarah Bodman
– Lucy Harrison
– Esther Yarnold
– Dorothy Smallman
– Pilar Cortes
– Kim Pilgrim
– Lynne Williams
– Annabel Ralphs & Tom Ralphs Laman
– Kate Gallon
– Csaba Pal
– Laura Guy
– Borbonesa & Emitron
– Lacey Prpic Hedtke
– Hanne Matthiesen
– Ann Willmott
– Abigail Thomas
– Kerri Cushman

Is it possible for the artwork and the blog to exist independently?

How can the artwork embody certain characteristics of the blog? And how can the blog become as significant as the art?

Where is its relevance outside the artist´s thinking?

How can the work be absorbed – or rather; can they be absorbed?

Is it necessary for the audience to also experience the work in real time?