Works in Progress: THE BOOK: A Contemporary View

Susan White, Between a Rock and a Hard
Place, 2010, Deconstructed book pages,
text dots, variable

If you've ever had a chance to look around the best website in the world , you're probably aware of the fact that the DCCA presents an average of 30 exhibitions annually of contemporary art. If you've ever been to the DCCA, you're probably aware of the fact that there aren't 30 galleries here. You see, we opt for quality, not quantity. The reason, dear readers, that we are able to present you with 30 exhibitions per annum despite our limited exhibition space is that our curatorial department is like a group of busy bees in a DCCA beehive. They're constantly planning, designing, and, most relevant to this discussion, de-installing and installing new exhibitions.

Lately, the sound of electric drills and the smell of paint have been floating through the air at the DCCA (please feel free to blame the paint fumes if this post seems more whimsical than usual). A new exhibition just opened in the Constance J. Hennessy Project Space (more on that later) and our Preparator is hard at work installing an exciting new exhibit entitled THE BOOK: A Contemporary View in the Carol Bieber and Marc Ham Gallery.

For the past week or so I've been embracing my wildly rebellious side and peeking around the "installation in progress, please do not enter" sign that's in the doorway of the gallery. I've yet to get very far though, as the guy who's been carved into the pages of books that have been suspended from the ceiling is more than a little intimidating. The same goes for the page-cyclone in the corner. There's also a rumor floating around about fearsome book mushrooms that are growing on the walls, but I've yet to see them.

THE BOOK: A Contemporary View, is dedicated to exploring the book as an object, subject, and concept. As the glimpses I've gotten of the exhibit would suggest, the artists participating in the show have created fascinating works of art that stretch the definition of the word "book" with delightful results. The exhibition will open next Wednesday so be sure to stop by and see if the rumor about the book mushrooms is true.

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"Works in Progress" is a series of posts dedicated to giving you advance notice about upcoming DCCA shows.