Book as Exhibition
is an alternative space to exhibit artworks and allow artists to create, document uncertainities and engage in dialogues across nations through the medium of book.
Book as Exhibition is a practice-based research project that aims to translate the concept of an exhibition as a medium and ideology into book form in order to investigate an alternative to traditional curatorial exhibitions and exhibition making. It is also an investigation into the role of book-making and graphic design practice beyond its traditional service for curatorial practice. By focusing on the curatorial space of the book, the project aims to gain insight into how the practice of the curatorial is being shaped by the interventions of book design and the larger field. This interdisciplinary work examines media as interchangeable through a set of semiotics as well as visual and narrative strategies.
Both the exhibition and the book are (cultural) artefacts; both are containers for knowledge and experience. Exhibitions are strategically located at the nexus wherein meet artists, their works, the arts institution, and many different publics. As they are situated so critically, they function as the prime transmitter through which the world is brought into temporary focus and offered to viewers for contemplation, education, and, perhaps most importantly, pleasure. One then may ask, if the exhibition is a medium, does professionalization dictate that it needs a physical space? Moreover, is the physically-spaced exhibition a standard platform? Are there ways to find alternative spaces for creative practices? What happens to those who cannot exhibit their work in institutions? If we are to understand the concept curatorial practice as a creative endeavour and a process, who or what confirms that it must be found in an institutionalized location?
Book as Exhibition project is founded by Krishna Balakrishnan, who began exploring it for his curatorial dissertation at Central Saint Martins. It was his aim to intertwine curatorial practice with graphic design.
Book as Exhibition is a practice-based research project that aims to translate the concept of an exhibition as a medium and ideology into book form in order to investigate an alternative to traditional curatorial exhibitions and exhibition making. It is also an investigation into the role of book-making and graphic design practice beyond its traditional service for curatorial practice. By focusing on the curatorial space of the book, the project aims to gain insight into how the practice of the curatorial is being shaped by the interventions of book design and the larger field. This interdisciplinary work examines media as interchangeable through a set of semiotics as well as visual and narrative strategies.
Both the exhibition and the book are (cultural) artefacts; both are containers for knowledge and experience. Exhibitions are strategically located at the nexus wherein meet artists, their works, the arts institution, and many different publics. As they are situated so critically, they function as the prime transmitter through which the world is brought into temporary focus and offered to viewers for contemplation, education, and, perhaps most importantly, pleasure. One then may ask, if the exhibition is a medium, does professionalization dictate that it needs a physical space? Moreover, is the physically-spaced exhibition a standard platform? Are there ways to find alternative spaces for creative practices? What happens to those who cannot exhibit their work in institutions? If we are to understand the concept curatorial practice as a creative endeavour and a process, who or what confirms that it must be found in an institutionalized location?
Book as Exhibition project is founded by Krishna Balakrishnan, who began exploring it for his curatorial dissertation at Central Saint Martins. It was his aim to intertwine curatorial practice with graphic design.
Collaborators
Richard Ayodeji Ikhide, artist, UK
geetha thurairajah, artist, Canada + USA
Kathryn Graham, artist, UK
India Nielsen, artist, UK
Xiuching Tsay, artist, UK + Thailand
Paul Henderson, artist and graphic designer, Canada