Boeken bouwen / Building books

Mijn masterproject / My masterproject:

ENG/ The digital revolution has drastically changed the book business. The paper book is losing ground and is even regarded as a inferior product by some. Yet it is so much more than it seems at first glance. By turning it into an object, I want to show that the paper book also has so many possibilities to offer. In the process, it becomes a stand-alone object, a presence in space. The functional aspect must not be neglected, however; a book is and remains in the first place a communication medium.

This research questions the boundary between the book as a functional medium and the autonomous object. By turning it into a functional object, the book eventually transcends its original function. My Master’s project is the tentative result of this balancing act between form and function.

NL/ De digitale revolutie heeft ook het boekwezen ingrijpend veranderd. Het papieren boek moet aan terrein inboeten en wordt door sommigen zelfs als een minderwaardig product aangevoeld. Toch is het zoveel meer dan het op het eerste gezicht lijkt. Door van het boek een object te maken, wil ik aantonen dat er ook met het papieren boek oneindig veel mogelijkheden zijn. Het wordt op die manier iets wat op zichzelf staat, iets wat aanwezig is in de ruimte. Toch mag het zuiver functionele aspect niet uit het oog worden verloren; een boek is immers in de eerste plaats een medium dat informatie overbrengt.

Dit onderzoek stelt de grens in vraag tussen enerzijds het boek als functioneel medium en anderzijds het op zichzelf staand object. Door het om te vormen tot een functioneel object overstijgt het boek uiteindelijk z’n oorspronkelijke functie. Mijn masterproef is het (voorlopige) resultaat van dit balanceren tussen functie en vorm.

 

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The last book

This book speaks by tearing it apart. Keep your eyes wide. Turn pages. Destroy it. This book speaks but tells you nothing. Because the only thing that will remain is Nothing.

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A book is not always a book (thesis)

A book is not always a book - a study on the borders of the book in digital and artistic media.

Books are everywhere. There have never been more books than now, tough they are not al paper books. Thanks to the digital revolution and printing on demand almost every book can be published. Nowadays, if you have an ipad of e-reader you only need the digital text-file to read the book. Simultaneously, since the 1960′s, more and more artists’ books have been created, and thereby also bookobjects and objectbooks. We notice an increasing focus on the shape and the material of the book. In addition to that, the function and contents of the book is often lost.

These two extremes are getting more and more distant from the original book. Can we still call them books, or do we need to look at them in a different way?

To find an answer on these questions, it is first of all important to know the answer on the question: ‘what is a book’? This seemingly simple question is not so easy to answer.

In the first part of my thesis I am trying to see the book in its historical context. Where does it come from and how it has evolved since then? In the second part, a number of substantive and formal features that are possible criteria for the book are discussed. A conclusion with specific features should give an answer on the question ‘what is a book’. In the third and final section I try to see what the consequences of this definition are for both digital books and the artist’s book.

If you would like to read this thesis (in Dutch), feel free to contact me at lisa.decavel@gmail.com.

 

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plooigeuren

How would you explain a fragrance to people who cannot smell?

That was the assignment that was given me.
After some research I found out that fragrances cannot be explained with words. This has a simple biological reason:
we experience odors using the right cerebral hemisphere while our vocabulary is centered in the left cerebral hemisphere. If I wanted to do this, I had to explain them by feelings, emotions, … (which are also centered in the left hemisphere)

Therefore I did a survey asking people with what colour,  emotion, people, .. they link with certain fragrances. Based on these results I made a book with 10 fragrances explained by these parameters. The surveys are listed in the book, together with images that show the linked emotions, people, …

By folding the pages of one chapter (one smell) the right way, you see one page with all the images linked with that fragrance. That should give the right explenation of the smell, to people who cannot experience it.

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(This was made for school, it was therefore never published or used for commercial goals)

Sevilla

Some photo’s I took on my latest trip to Sevilla (Spain).

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Corporate identity

 

This (fictional) corporate identity was made for ‘de Singel’, an international arts campus based in Antwerp (Belgium). I made the deisgn concept and the design itself.

In this world were we get loaded with information, posters and folders it is important to catch the eye of the potential customer. Therefore I decided to use craftpaper in all of the communication: posters, folders, letters, … . This will catch the eye and will eventually be the mark of ‘de singel’.

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(This was made for school, it was therefore never published or used for commercial goals)

 

Matresjki

A book about matroesjka-dolls, made in the same way ass the dolls: a book in a book in a book in a book in a book. The five chapters of the book are settled in eachother. In the middle of the first chapter you can find the second chapter. In the middle of that you can find the third chapter etc… . Each chapter has his own form and size. The book covers the history of matroesjkas (chapter 1), the nested-doll principle in literature, film and theathre (chapter 2), a personal vieuw on matroesjkas and their nesting (chapter 3), how and where they are made (chapter 4), and finally a photo collection of matroesjka’s (chapter 5).

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(This was made for school, it was therefore never published or used for commercial goals)