It’s All About Books

Exhibition, The Cregan Library, St. Patricks Campus, DCU (2019)

This exhibition looks at the role of books in our culture: the book as artefact, object, document, resource, entertainment, concept etc. The works engage with the materiality of books, also with aspects of their history and future in a technology driven world. In Black Book, text and margins are inked to total blackness, while Unwritten offers a shelf of white blanks. Works such as; Ghost, The Life and Death of the Author and Murder Mystery explore points of intersection between writer and reader, reader and fellow reader. Staging the exhibition in a library created a parallel context for the works. Included were; seven pieces presented on plinths and an opening night performance which transformed into an installation for the duration of the exhibition.

hanging book-falling words-Roland Barthes-demoted authors

The Life and Death of the Author

prepared book with noose cable (2019)
contemporary book art-black ink saturated book-text obliterated to nothingness

Black Book

book saturated with black ink (2019)
ghost writing-ghostly pages-book without substance

Ghost

book of transparent blank acetate pages (2019)
book art-book made of mirrors

Book of Mirrors

mirror and mirror foil (2019)
who done it-book art-murder mystery-Agatha Christie

Murder Mystery

prepared book (2019)
shelf of blank books-unwritten books

Unwritten

a shelf of blank books (2019)
Ulysses Bolted-first edition replica-bolted at 4 corners

Ulysses Bolted

prepared book, two views (2019)
performance art-young man reads blank book-wearing James Joyce 'Dubliners' printed shirt.

Assimilation

Performance still (2019)
art installation-open blank books-James Joyce shirt

Assimilation

Post performance installation
text printed shirt-James Joyce-Dubliners

Assimilation

installation detail, printed shirt – text from ‘Dubliners’ by James Joyce