CURATOR'S TALK - DORA GARCIA 'These Books Were Alive; They Spoke To Me'

This week I went along to the curator's talk at the Tetley on their current exhibitions; Pages: Future Present, and Dora Garcia: These Books Were Alive: They Spoke to Me. The curators and organisers of the artist book fair discussed their small exhibition and the history of the artist's book fair, followed by a curator's tour of the Dora Garcia exhibition. 

WHY A BOOK FAIR?

Having visited the book fair in previous years, it was interesting to hear the context and history of the fair. Curators John McDowall and Chris Taylor discussed the elevation of books in a gallery context and how this can be challenging to the audiences' understanding of an artist's book. Books that are enclosed within display cabinets seem to for-go discussion and curiosity, and as such, are not fully appreciated for their content and crafted quality. This need for sensory experience triggered the idea of the artist's book fair as this became an outlet for artists to free their work and invite audiences to enjoy their tangibility outside of the taboos of a gallery space. 

This is something that really resonates with me, having previously made multiple concertina books, and in particular, a pop-up book, the tangible and 3 dimensional qualities seem to beg interaction. Within the context of an artist's book, this could simply be for an appreciation of crafted qualities, within the context of a picture-book or fiction book, this could be for an engagement with the narrative and characters. It will be interesting to see the different interpretations of an artist's book at next week's book fair.

CURATORIAL DECISIONS

The tour of the Dora Garcia exhibition, led by curator Zoe Sawyer, gave an insightful view of curatorial decisions surrounding books and Garcia's work. A performance piece which encompassed two actors reading a script back and forth to each other was set up across two gallery rooms, allowing the performance about books to flip back and forth across rooms, echoing the turning of pages. This curatorial decision to extend the context of the work into its environmental frame showcases the artists engagement with books as an art form as well as a vehicle for communication. The performance of these scripts across two rooms also achieved  a sense of movement and dialogue within the book, extending the comical, conflicting tone of voice into the exhibition space.

Additionally, Sawyer had chosen to display one of Garcia's book on the threshold of two rooms, mounted at a 45 degree angle in the door way. This was a particularly interesting design decision as it almost went unnoticed, yet appropriately echoed some of the books own qualities. The book as a vehicle between one world and another, the pages of a book as turnstiles between changing narratives. Exhibiting this artist's book in a liminal space almost encouraged the viewer to continue following the exhibition, yet also started a conversation about the function of books. 

FURTHER INTERESTS

I am interested to further explore the role of the book within a gallery context. How does a book behave within the taboos of a gallery space? What conversations does a book in a gallery invite that a book in a bookshop does not? Visiting illustrations exhibitions should give me more opportunity to explore this, perhaps studying picture-books similar to the work I would like to create and how these are displayed and observed as objects of art.