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Sorcery and Design


Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Starting point:
Irma Boom: Biography in Books
Location: Bijzondere Collecties (UvA)
Place: Amsterdam aka Mokum

And then:
‘Choose one book.’
Okay.
I choose two.

.

SHV

Af first glance, this book seemed boring to me. I saw a conventional book, formally shaped and made for a non-romantic Holdings NV. Boring.

Sheila Hicks: Weaving as Metaphor

At first glance, this book seemed appealing to me. I saw a perfect assimilation between form and content, but maybe a bit too slick – and for me that means: less interesting.

Brainwise next to each other, they activated my grey cells:

.

RECONSTRUCTION
What happened?!

.

1. Context. SHV, which I thought to be boring

formal/conventional – heavy – ribbon – not frisky // though: form/content-contrast! with the inside: playful – colourish

seemed to be the result of a five-year period of carte blanchesse, full of difficulties within the production process. Veiled complexity.

[funny: carte blanche results in a book that i found has striking resemblances with the archetypical old(est) european book: the bible]

2. … I linked to the Sheila Hicks-book.

form/content become one: appearance of textile, subject textile

So, instead of contrast: form/content-assimilation.

3. But maybe the contrast of the first book is actually a form/content-paradox: the conventional, formal element of a company comes together with an artistic book – artistic whether you look at the arty inside of it, or at the aesthetic base of the production process.

As a result: form and content come together also in thís book.

.

.

.

IN BRIEF

Although I thought to deal with two contrastive books, that I could put next to each other to illustrate a difference (conventional/aesthetic), it turned out that there wasn’t that much difference between the books after all.

…  for me, these kind of little surprises create heart jumps, retina stars, frolic impulses.

*s*o*r*c*e*r*y

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