"Change transform II"

 

In 2020,  Jonathon Oxlade and I made a varied edition of two books "Change  Transform" . One of these was entered in the Manly Artist Book Award 2021 and now 2 years later we have both revisited the remaining book to make "Change Transform II". The book will be entered in HARD design show curated by Calum Hurley in Melbourne Design Week 18 -21 May.

This book follows the same condition that in making any change, nothing must be subtracted or cut off the original.  However, in addition to folding, cutting and changing the shape of pages, we have made small additions to the pages by responding with thread or pigment to make marks that effect the change and transform the pages and provide a way of linking or seperating the pages. 

The book also makes use of colour and form to focus and link different pages in a gentle, suggestive manner. The collaboration produced new, exploratory results that excited both of us. 

points of difference

Often we make a book and it takes a while to get feedback on how it "works" for the audience. Recently, when showing "tactile dialogues" to some book artists, I was thrilled to see how differently they interacted with my book. 
Some opened and closed the individual tags separately making little noises of surprise at what was underneath and then closing the shutters, while others left the little windows open with all the tags sticking out making a more 3D presence. Turning the shiny carbon coated pages in the light, changed the shadows and gave more sculptural feeling.
It is wonderful to see the different reactions to very abstract surfaces and shapes on the pages. The interactive, open-ended emphasis was one which this audience enjoyed "playing" with. 

This valuable feedback will help me make more interactive, maybe even process driven work using the qualities of the paper to drive the book's tactile qualities. Sadly, much is lost in blogs like this although perhaps a video format might help, particularly with the movement part of this different process of "seeing" an artist book.