Life, the universe and everything: Artists’ books which question our relationship with nature and the way we live

Bodman, Sarah L.

Abstract

Curated by Sarah Bodman for the Impact 7 Multi-disciplinary Printmaking Conference, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

An exhibition of 28 artists’ books – placed on a shelf - which ask the viewers some questions about how we perceive, treat and respond to nature and our wider environment. For example: Kurt Johannessen’s Exercises, contains seemingly innocuous instructions such as “kiss the wind” “talk nicely to all the butterflies you meet” ‘follow a snail for a day” which are actually questioning our relationship with the often invisible world around us. Radoslaw Nowakowski’s visual focus is the tiny hamlet of Dabrowa Dolna where he lives, using subjects such as the view of the mountain outside his window to question the nature of the universe. Sarah Jacobs Deciphering Human Chromosome 16 bookworks use text in a visual way “to document the ethical, economic, political and philosophical polemics associated with mapping the human genome”. The Index to the Report sets fragments collected from the websites contained in the ‘Report’ against the background of the earlier draft sequence originally published by Project Gutenberg. The solid physicality of the ‘Index’ contrasts with the ever-changing ‘Report’. Finlay Taylor has been working with snails for over 10 years. His books include their subjects as participants in the making of the artwork, such as snail eaten trails which spell out texts.

Artists: Sarah Bodman (UK), Kurt Johannessen (Norway), Bill Burns (Canada), Ann Tyler (USA), Julie Johnstone (UK), Éric Watier (France), Sarah Bodman (UK), Finlay Taylor (UK), Radoslaw Nowakowski (Poland), Colin Sackett (UK), Tracey Bush (UK), Imi Maufe (Norway), Susan Johanknecht (UK), Angie Waller (USA), Sarah Jacobs (UK), Mick McGraw (UK).

• Exhibition Performance Type: Exhibition
• Conference Name: Life, the universe and everything: Artists’ books which question our relationship with nature and the way we live
• Start Date: Oct 27, 2011
• End Date: Oct 30, 2011
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2011
• Keywords: artists' books
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/967042
• Publisher URL: http://impact7.org.au/exhibitions/life.html