Tag Archives: Bookwork and Bookishness

“Deconstruction” of the Book

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As week 7 comes to an end, my thought process behind the book as an object has become more open ended than it has ever been. Borsuk in Chapter 3, of The Book, explains “Our changing idea of the book is co-constitutive of its changing structure” `(195). This statement perfectly shows that the bookishness of a book depends on the evolution of humans’ idea of a book. Artists such as Doug Beube have pushed the creative limits of the book as a medium. Dr. Pressman has stated in one of our first times in the Special Collections Lab that artists are supposed to challenge dominant narratives and push boundaries, and that is exactly what we see in this week’s readings. Doug Beube states in “Bookwork and Bookishness: An interview with Doug Beube and Brian Dettmer by Jessica Pressman, “Artists like myself pull the book apart to show that it is no longer the only way to present knowledge and information.” In the Digital Age, we focus primarily on a book’s content and solely focus on the words written on the pages. However, Beube’s work maximizes a books fluidity and confronts the idea that a book’s durability and immutable qualities. He challenges the readers to not overlook the stories and meanings embedded in the bookishness of the book itself, especially the physical and conceptual presence.

While browsing through Doug Beube’s remarkable artwork, I found myself seeing the book through a completely new lens. I no longer saw the book as a container of knowledge, but as an artwork that embodies its own narrative. I was particularly drawn to his piece Cuff. Before reading Beube’s explanation, I wrote my own interpretation “One is shackled and confined by the need to acquire all knowledge. One who is consumed with needing to know all will not feel the liberation of life.” I learned that Beube’s own description mirrored my definition. He interprets the work as reflecting how the censorship and restriction of knowledge parallel the culture of bondage and dominatrix, where readers experience pleasure through the restraint of knowledge itself. Beube’s work ultimately invites us to question not only how we consume knowledge, but also how we are bound by our search of it. In this way, the book ceases to be a mere object or container. I now truly see how the book is a living form that continues to evolve with our relationship with information, creativity, and artistry.

When the Book Falls Apart and Forces Us to Think

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In the interview “Bookwork and Bookishness,” Jessica Pressman talks to artists Doug Beube and Brian Dettmer about their book sculptures. I find their statement about books as a medium in the digital age particularly exciting. Because it becomes clear that art is not just decoration, but criticism of a medium.

Beube describes his work as follows: “The book is a technology that is not meant to be malleable or flexible in the ways I use it, and I’m trying to force a fluidity onto the book that isn’t intended.” Originally, the book was a linear, rectangular, bound medium intended for reading information. However, when you bend and dismantle the book, it becomes “flexible.” This is precisely where the critical impulse lies. This even becomes clearer when he says: “Artists like myself pull the book apart to show that it is no longer the only way to present knowledge and information, especially not in a digital age.” In the past, books were considered the most important medium for storing and disseminating knowledge and information. Today, digital media and artificial intelligence have largely taken over this role. By literally taking books apart, artists illustrate this cultural shift.

Brian Dettmer adds to this perspective by pointing out the effect of media on our thinking: “The media we use has a large impact on how we digest content; it shapes our minds and influences the way we think.” He makes it clear that it is not only the content that is important, but also the framework, the way in which the medium structures our perception and thinking.  The linear book shapes our understanding of stories and knowledge. Meanwhile, digital media promote speed, networking, and multitasking.

In my opinion, Beube and Dettmer’s artworks are not nostalgic, but critical. They reveal that books are no longer a given in a world flooded with digital information. Beube and Dettmer’s artworks are not nostalgic, but critical. They reveal that books are no longer a given in a world flooded with digital information. By taking the book apart, they open up a discussion about what media do, how they shape our thinking, and why we still cling to physical books at all. Perhaps the real goal of their art is not to save the book. Rather, they want to remind us that both books and digital media shape the way we think.