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Coded Collaboration
I was trying to ascertain my definition of what a book is. Lots of good possibilities have been presented to me, but the words just never quite fit what I was thinking. There are extremely open classifications that include nearly everything as well as some quite narrow classical ideas of what a book is. Tending to be more open, but not considering every object with potential information a book, I finally hit my own definition. A book is a coded object that information can be translated from. Translation is the key element. Televisions and radios give information in a format that can simply be ingested passively, leaving little to the imagination. Books, on the other hand, are coded. Their viewers must break the code to receive the story. Sometimes the code is in a language the viewer is familiar with and can easily read, but often it is in an unusual, foreign code of the author or artist. In both situations an active role is taken by the audience in order to understand the book.
Herein lies the power of the artist book. A personal object that can tell a story however the artist desires. Using whatever materials and methods they wish. The product is often an intimate object that when translated by the viewer becomes a collaboration between the artist and the reader. The multi-media, pop-up book titled "Caged," for example, is a book that tempts the reader to take an active role in its translation. Touching, opening, tinkering, and thinking are all required, yet the appearance of the book is rough, dangerous, and fragile, causing the reader to hesitate from taking the necessary steps. Once the reader has overcome their caution and opened the book, they will view the single page. A small peep show that, like much of my photography, tells a story that will vary from reader to reader. I have provided the reader with an intimate book and image that serves as an active framework for their own translation. A translation that is always correct because it simply occurred.