Floating book sculpture

Check out this video: “At the Singapore Biennale 2008 Ki-Bong Rhee has shown Bachelor – The Dual Body (2003), an installation in which a book of philosophy is thrown into an aquarium. In this closed, isolated environment, it dances around. This special copy of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s only book-length work, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921), is made of leather so that it can endure long periods in the water. The book will neither rise to the surface nor sink to the bottom due to the currents of the water. It floats about playfully in the middle of the tank. It looks as if this classic text of Western European analytical philosophy is suspended in midair, coming loose from its bearings due to the waves of globalisation. The dancing motion suggests that Western logical thought is having fun; and so a lightness and humour comes across in the work. Perhaps, it shows that Europe, with its ideological history, is bewildered about the future. The artist states the following about the work: “In this work, I wanted the dream-like image to be dominant over the meaning or the material.” It is a beautiful image, and simultaneously a meaningful and profound piece of work.”

Big books

Here are some links to books by the artist Anselm Keifer (and others): lead books, book with wings, sculpture (at bottom of page, after many interesting books as photographic subjects), 2-meter tall book sculpture, The Secret Life of Plants.

“The End of Rodney Smith”

Check out the site for this big book: http://theendofrodneysmith.com/

Season’s Greetings

Check out London-based designer Thomas Heatherwick’s holiday cards: http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/seeing-things-seasons-greetings/?emc=eta1