Books are what you find lining the shelves of libraries, right? The new “Open Book” exhibit in the University Gallery, located in the Student Center, begs to differ.
This exhibit, which premiered Monday, is focused on “What a book is, how artists use them and what a book could be,” according to the exhibit’s co-curator Ryan Molloy. As a result, the gallery contains many unique interpretations of a book from a variety of international artists. These interpretations include visual, digital and sculptural interpretations of books.
Among the pieces presented are altered books – art made out of a book and using the pre-existing words to form a new interpretation. Illusory presentations of books are also present, as are sculptures representing books and made from books themselves.
However, there are also unique and more vague interpretations of books. One piece is composed of a pile of live Twitter feeds printed on receipt paper, picked if they contain a certain combination of words. This results in what gallery director Gregory Tom calls “Partially random, partially audience driven” art. Another piece is composed of hundreds of slides, which tell a of story in addition compiling the slides into a visual composition.
Julie Weber, a fine arts student, remarked that the exhibit was unique in its “use of text and imagery from a book applied to different media.”
This “exploration of an idea about books,” as Tom calls it, opens the definition of what makes a book. Co-curator Leslie Atman, describes how the exhibit serves to “open it [this definition] to other media.” As Atman describes it, the exhibit bridges graphic design and art. The result is a loose definition of what makes a book, namely a vehicle for information containing two or more sections.
The co-curators, Atman and Molloy, combined pieces from Japan, Australia, England, the Netherlands and other foreign sources with a collection of works by U.S. artists to form the exhibit. The curators had to survey artworks, view previews and negotiate with collectors to fill the gallery. When asked about what encouraged a theme on books, Atman replied, “books have been given a raw deal.”
The exhibit was also made to “show the role galleries can play in the classroom,” according to Tom. The programs, posters and other signage for the exhibit, were designed by graphic design student Andrew Reaume. Reaume was selected as the result of a competition with other students in his graphic design classes. As such, the gallery not only showcases international artists, it helps the gallery provide a “platform for students,” said Tom.
The “Open Book” exhibit will be showing in the University Gallery until June 15. Gallery hours and other information about campus galleries are available at http://www.emich.edu/fordgallery/index.html.
