Panoramic View: THE BOOK: A Contemporary View

Melissa Jay Craig, (S)Edition, 2007-2009, Homemade
abaca paper, processed by the artist, 18" x 16" x 18"

The jumping around continues!

The DCCA's first foray into exhibiting books arts, THE BOOK: A Contemporary view, opened on December 23rd and  has been enjoying positive reviews and steady attendance. You may remember me promising to report back to you about the show. I'd say it's time for me to deliver.

First, I should say that there is quite a bit to say about THE BOOK. The reason that my verbal cup is sure to runneth over is simply that the show is gigantic. The works of 47 book artists have been brought together to create an incredibly diverse exhibition that has something for everyone. From codices to scrolls to book-shaped mushrooms (yes, dear reader, the rumors about the fearsome book-mushrooms were true), the gallery is packed with delightful art books that are sure to catch your eye.

Though I'm an avid bibliophile, I have to confess that this show is the first time I've seen books displayed as art objects rather than sources of information and entertainment. Seeing books behind glass cases (or growing from the walls) took me aback for a moment; but then I started thinking about what books mean to our society. I've always thought of books--even rare ones--as a very democratic method of distributing knowledge. Their meaning doesn't change too drastically if they're reprinted, they can be passed around from person to person and social class to to social class, and (with the exception of tomes on the scale of the Oxford English Dictionary) they can be transported fairly easily.


Seeing the books behind the glass--untouchable and, thus, only marginally accessible--made me acutely aware of how we, as a society, access information. Relegating printed books to the realm of museums and art galleries creates a society in which information becomes available only to those who can afford to keep up with advances in technology. As a child of a reasonably affluent home, I had never been deprived of information, whether it came in the form of a printed book or the internet. Upon walking into the gallery I realized that, for the first time, I did not have access to the stories and information contained in the more traditional art books.

The exhibit, though it proclaims itself "contemporary," also confronts viewers with the possibility of a future in which the democratic quality of books has become obsolete. Printed books might be placed behind glass and taken out of circulation. Accessing information would, for some, become prohibitively expensive. Though the exhibit itself is free, viewers are not permitted to touch the books. The reason behind this prohibition is, of course, that the books are rare, one-of-a-kind art pieces and our curatorial department gets nervous when visitors handle the artwork.

However, by the very act of exhibiting the books as untouchable art objects rather than interactive transmitters of information, THE BOOK: A Contemporary View, underlines the importance of books as a way to divulge and acquire knowledge and information. Because viewers are not actually allowed to read the books, they become aware of the social problems that would arise if technology were to render the printed word obsolete.

As a whole, then, the exhibit is a powerful testament to the continued need for printed books and their continued relevance to our technologically advanced society.

Disclaimer: The irony of my pontificating about the importance of printed books in a blog post is not lost on me. I'll print it out and bind it, I promise.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"THE BOOK: A Contemporary View" is on display in the DCCA's Carol Bieber and Marc Ham Gallery and will run through April 17, 2011.


"Panoramic View" is a series of posts dedicated to stepping back and looking at exhibits at the DCCA in their entirety.