Rietveld > lib. cat. no: 779 ent
"form/content-paradox" Tag
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.
.
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
