WEEK 5: Unfamiliar Object: The Altered Book

COLLAGE: Unfamiliar Object: The Altered Book

The definition of an ‘altered book’ often falls within the shadows of the of artists’ book and at times the terms could be interchangeable. Both forms frequently challenge the fundamental associations that unfold between text and narrative together with content and meaning. Processes engaged within the construction of an altered book often physically adjust, manipulate and transform the very structure of the traditional codex form. Such alterations and modifications can be dramatic but equally just as potent with a more poetic and understated engagement with the book form.

BRIEF: For this project students are to bring to thestudio a book form that they are prepared to alter and perhaps partially destroy as a way of questioning the relationship between text, narrative, content and meaning. As a method of establishing a starting point each student is asked to imagine the book form as an unfamiliar object, to suspend any pre-­‐existing perceptions they have of this object or its content, as if it had simply fallen from the sky. Begin by writing down fundamental descriptions of this unfamiliar object. From this initial engagement and exploration of the book form begin to find your own methods of altering its form, its content or both.In thinking about how your work might challenge the interplay of content and meaning reflect on:

-­‐Language: how can text become divorced from meaning through alterations to the book form? -­‐Narrative: how can collage elements be included to dissolve the fixed narrative structure? -­‐Form: how can the book as a familiar everyday object be rendered unfamiliar?

The degree of modification to thebook form will rely upon each individual student’s particular response. If you see it as offering an avenue for a series of drawings, photographs or video works then embrace these initial reactions. The choice of a book form is not restricted to the traditional novel or textbook but may include the yellow pages, magazines, journals, comics etc.

FOR ARTISTS 
– Archiving Masterclass

Join Digital Curation Specialist Somaya Langley and MCA archivist Stephanie Ferrara for an archiving intensive, focusing on archiving processes, managing digital files and what it means for artists and organisations to create archives, especially with new media. Gain insight into how to collect and collate objects to start your own archive and explore how archival material can be incorporated into your own practice in this in-depth workshop.

Archives focus on the lesser known activities of artists, such as broadsheets, notebooks, diaries, objects, photographs, collages, scripts, working drawings, manuscripts, periodicals, letters, and drawings. As significant keeping places of both knowledge and memory, archives shed light on the working methods and ideas of contemporary artists and how these ideas are transformed through materials into art.

Sat 27 Aug, 1–2.30pm
$15/$10 MCA Members and Concessions* 
National Centre for Creative Learning, Level 3 
Bookings Required

Image: Airan Kang, A carnation has fallen of Luis de gongora, 2011, acrylic on canvas,LED lighting Image courtesy the artist and Gallery Simon, Seoul © the artist

SOURCE: http://www.mca.com.au/events/for-artists-archiving-Masterclass/