book (bOOk)
n.
1. A set of written, printed, or blank pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers.
there were some books in the library that didn’t fit this description of a ‘usual’ book.I chose a rather mysterious one.
its small, has a wooden cover with a little hole inside. when you open it you see images and texts, in dutch, englisch and german. sentences, poetry? it looks like a piece of art. i it about communism? i see a red star and i read ‘groeten uit warszawa’. on the images i see a forest, photo’s from people from back in the days and than on the last page of the book there are two pink receipts saying 40/100.
i want to know!
where is the book about?
whats with the wooden cover and the hole?
what does the title mean?
why is this book in the design department?
in the back of the book i find the colophon which says
‘Rietvelduitgave 68, juni 1991
Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Tekst en ontwerp: Miriam de Koning
Erwin Slegers
Met dank aan: Christiaan Honig
Rob Schroder
Bob van der Winden
i Google the title of the book. nothing.
i look for the names of the designers on the internet
i find an email address of Erwin Slegers and decide to contact him.
few days later he tells me on the phone that the books is based on a random order of the pages which is created by printing the photos and texts on one big sheet of paper then folding it in 16 squares and cut all the edges but one open.
by placing the photos and text in a random composition on the big sheet of paper it gives a complete freedom of on what order it turns out to be in the book, its done in one try, a hole in one. which also revers to the hole in the cover.
some of the pictures are from a travel to Poland and the texts are some kind of response on the photos.
this also makes it clear that the book is in the design department, since it’s some kind of research on book printing.
Rietveld > lib. cat. no: 758.3 kon 1