Reasoning behind the selection of artists' books
UM… YEAH… IN-BETWEEN SPACE exhibits a selection of Artists’ Books from the Kunstenbibliotheek that deals with in-between spaces, interpretation and meaning-making on a theoretical, typographical and representational level. Since we started from the conceptual idea of examining this spatial aspect within both architecture (Hannah’s main discipline) and literature (Lise’s main discipline), the first two works explicitly reflect on “in-between space” as a notion. In Two times 4’33”, Manon De Boer sees silence as something spatial, explores the architectural value of open spaces, and connects inner domains with outer domains or reality with imagination. In Diagrammatic writing, Johanna Drucker explores spatiality in written texts on pages, and exemplifies how in-between spaces are significant for the reader’s meaning-making. These two works serve as a framework and theoretical base of the selection. The books that follow then exemplify this outline via typographical representations of in-between spaces. They are ordered from literal to figurative examples, and are easily distinguished via added words in the vitrine, that signify their particular effects: to fill in, to open up, to expand, or to interpret…
TO FILL IN. The first two examples show literal in-between spaces on the pages that are still to be filled in. The exhibited pages of Kasper Andreasen & Alex Barbaix’ Margetaal contain empty lines that ask to be filled in – meaning is, in other words, still completely to be decided. In Applesauce, Lien Van Leemput similarly projects an empty frame that is entirely free of meaning.
TO OPEN UP. The following two examples show literal in-between spaces that are not fundamentally asking to be filled in. In the displayed book of Daniel Linehan’s collection A No Can Make Space, there is an open space that remains empty, and in that way represents how we speak, the doubt that comes with thinking, what is left unsaid. In Prospectus, Peter Downsbourgh also includes a literal in-between space – now it is the letters themselves that are opened up.
TO EXPAND. Moving from literal to figurative examples, the two subsequent books represent how our interpretation expands because of in-between spaces. With Silk Poems, Jen Bervin succeeded in using the pages themselves as in-between spaces – the sentences on one page therefore shine through and affect our meaning-making of other pages. Similarly, Maud Gourdon splits up words and adds additional information in A Flower is Speaking To A Dog as to expand their meaning.
TO INTERPRET. The last exemplary books are, then, figurative representations of how our interpretation is yet to be decided. In the shown pages of Olaf Nicolai’s FOUCAULT IN, the reader has to guess the interpretation of the blurred words. In a similar vein, Stefan Themerson’s On Semantic Poetry shows how meaning is to be selected and includes interpretive options.
The two final books do not necessarily create in-between spaces – literally nor figuratively – but are representative for how we as readers-visitors-humans fill in these in-between spaces and consequently generate meaning. The displayed pages of Karl Holmqvist’s ‘K represent how we generate meaning via the selection of letters as to give an interpretation to something. In a like manner, the open pages of Mikko Kuorinki’s The order of things are representative for our inner voice and our cognitive processes – they display a repetition of words that characterise the idiosyncratic reader and their unique way of interpreting. These last notes are, however, our interpretation of the works on the basis of the conceptual framework we set out. How do you interpret these IN-BETWEEN SPACES?