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Invisible Cities 1991 altered atlas 11 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.
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Italio Calvino's memorable book, Invisible Cities, describes fantastic colonies and their inhabitants living in imaginary worlds. His book was an early inspiration, a tribute to an opening or forgotten passage, an adventure into implausible realms. The bookwork I made, with the same title, utilizes an outdated atlas whose pages are folded in on themselves, and alludes to a compact reliquary. Miniature springs separate the pages for the viewer to peer between expanded chapters. As if the piece was fabricated for a sacrament, capping the top and bottom are tarnished finials with an attached chain, reminiscent of a ceremonial object whose purpose has been forgotten. Presented on a blue velvet cloth, the book assumes an elevated importance, as though it might be presented in high court. |
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Fault Lines 2003 18 x 12 x 1 3/4 in. altered atlas
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Without severing the spine, the book is cut into one-inch strips. Once the volume, secured from the bottom on a table, is leaned upward, its pages topple into a field of interconnecting waves or “fault lines.” The parallel rows or sections criss-cross in an arbitrary geopolitical braiding that interweaves the beginning and end of the book, allowing the viewer to scrutinize different topographical—and hence editorial—viewpoints and thus to “reread the world” without turning the elongated page shapes of its former mapping.
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