Booklover

Last time I was in London in April, I found a book about book making (!) at Magma that caught my eye. That morning, I had seen a book that a friend made and had published on demand with Blurb as a birthday present. I always had in the back of my mind the project to do a book someday, experimenting the media as an artform. Incidentally, the 2 occurrences in the same day made me realize very suddenly that this project could happen very soon and was fairly accessible. I'm at a stage in my life where I feel towards my artistic practice empty, uninspired and bored most of the time. So every time I get the chance to feel excited or challenged, I usually dive in, whether it's when I meet creative people, when I talk to passionate friends, when I see an eloquent exhibition or when a book manages to strike my imagination. I wonder if I'm not caught in the same process that believers go through when their faith gets shaky (that would be a terrible conclusion to come to actually, for the non-believer that I am).
"Indie Publishing - How to Design and Produce Your Own Book", edited by Ellen Lupton was a really interesting read in that matter, showing you mostly that with the development of Print-on-demand services, the artist and the designer were freed of many obstacles in order to experiment with the book as a media. Publishing basics are also reminded, which is always useful and every addressed subject comes with real examples, and that's one of the most compelling aspects of the book : it shows the diversity and the richness of independent publishing that goes from DIY to established houses that often started out on a single project.



j.