The Biblio Universe of Adam Bateman

In Adam Bateman's world books are the structural foundation. Whether he is building walls, spheres or stacks the book is his cornerstone.

 Adam Bateman, The Fourth Thousand Years, books, 2011

In the Artist Statement from one of his past shows, Bateman says:
"The primary structure of my sculptures is the text of the books, the secondary structure is the form made of books. In that way, the books actually work as signifiers (like words) and so the structured arrangement I make with them is analogous to writing."

Drawing heavily from the Minimalists Bateman believes in "art as language" and luckily for us books are his muse.

 Bateman's work is currently part of  he exhibit  The Matter of Words: Adam Bateman, Harrell Fletcher, and John Fraser at the Museum of Art at BYU. The exhibition features 46 works by the three artists "that reference the medium of the printed word."

Bateman's website

Book Art on Parade in Iowa City

 Chicago had its Cows on Parade, Seattle had its Pigs on Parade now Iowa City will soon unveil Book Art on Parade.

To celebrate it being named by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) as the third City of Literature in the world, and the only one in the United States, in 2008, Johnson County, Iowa created Book Marks.

Book Marks is a public art project that will feature over 60 book-themed statues, each 5-feet by 3 1/2-feet, that will be displayed throughout the county from June through October.

As with similar "parades" each sculpture has a sponsor and after the exhibit any pieces that are not purchased by the sponsor will be auctioned off, in this case for worthy book causes.

Here's the video kicking off the Book Marks campaign:



 Facebook page for the event

 

Just in Case

 

With less than 3 hours left until the Rapture begins this book moves up the To Be Read (TBR) list to a Must Read Now!

Harvey Gross's Plans for an Orderly Apocalypse and other poems. Published by the University of Michigan Press, 1968

Eat Touch Love: A book of edible body art

 James Beard award-winning chef Tiberio Simone latest creation takes him outside the kitchen and into the studio. His new book La Figa: Visions of Food and Form, the culmination of a a five year collaboration with photographer Matt Freedman, is an exploration of "natural beauty and fresh flavors."

Using the human body as his canvas, and natural fresh ingredients as both his paint and his adhesives, Simone has developed a new art of food and form. The synergy of his ephemeral artwork with Freedman’s photography is magical – producing a series of breathtaking images that will stir your soul, pique your curiosity, and tune you in to your most primal instincts for flavor and pleasure.

The book features over 150 images, 20 recipes and 40 essays about food, love, and life including "ingenuous advice on how to use food for seduction."

The book release party will take place at the upcoming Seattle Erotic Art Festival where Simone will be "painting" select attendees.

 Watch Tibero in action:


Food Becomes Art from La Figa Project on Vimeo.

Are you hungry yet?

Oprah the Book Fairy: The Astounding Success of the Oprah Book Club

You can bet publisher's are going to miss Oprah as much as her viewers when her long-running show wraps up next week. Nielsen has just released an accounting of the impact of Oprah's Book Club on the sales of the books chosen.

In the last ten years she has sold over 22 million copies of books bearing her Book Club branding.

Her full impact on book sales is hard to quantify but there are some amazing concrete numbers regarding how many books bearing the Oprah Book Club selection imprint have sold. For example, the Oprah trade paperback edition of  A Million Little Pieces by James Frey sold 2.7 million copies and her edition of Cormac McCarthy's The Road sold 1.4 million copies.

 click to enlarge and to see units sold

As the graph below shows if a book gets blessed with an Oprah seal it is destined to to receive a huge bump in sales.

Here is the complete list of all the books that were chosen for the Oprah Book Club

Previously on Book Patrol:
Jay Z Talks Books with Oprah
More Trouble In Bookland For Oprah

The "Non-Traditional" Book Takes Center Stage

 Today Amazon alerted the world that for the first time the sale of Kindle books has surpassed the sale of all printed books. In less than four years the electronic newcomer has taken a strong hold. The rise in e-books has "resulted in the fastest year-over-year growth rate for Amazon's U.S. books business" in over 10 years and even caught CEO Jeff Bezos by surprise who said "We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly." 

The announcement  comes right on the heels of  R. R. Bowker's release of their annual report on U.S. print book publishing which says that even in the face of the rise of the digital book the production of printed books actually increased by 5%. Before we break out the champagne and start the "Print Isn't Dead" chant we need to look a little closer at the individual genres. What we see does not bode well - the only increases are in the Science, Computer and Technology fields. Literature, poetry, history and biography all suffered double digit declines. Whether it was because of the sluggish economy or that these are the categories that are best suited for the non-traditional approach is not entirely clear but either way, at some point, there has to be some sort of cultural consequence. We need to feed the right side of our brain as much as the left.

While much of the focus has centered on the meteoric rise of e-books and their effect on the publishing industry it is the print-on-demand segment that has really taken off. In 2010 there were almost 8 times the number of print-on-demand titles then traditional titles! Below is a graph of the leaders in that space, notice how much of the output is concentrated in the top three players.

Since 2002, the production of traditional books as increased 47%, while non-traditional titles rose 8,460%.

It's a brave new world.

British Library set to leave this world

It's Sci-Fi time at the British Library. The long-awaited, and destined to be a classic, exhibit Out of this World: Science Fiction but not as you know it, opens on Friday.

"This new exhibition will invite visitors to enter the world of the future, alien worlds, parallel worlds and virtual worlds, and speculate on how our universe might change. These imaginings can provoke hopes and dreams, exhilaration or fear – and shed light on the time and place in which they were created. We hope to encourage visitors' questions such as: 'Is there such a thing as a perfect world?' 'When and how will the world end?'"

 

Domingo Gonsales. The Discovery of a World in the Moone, 1638

In addition to a healthy sampling of books, manuscripts and illustrations the exhibit will feature old radio recordings, movies, and jukeboxes playing the curator's top 20 songs from the world of science fiction pop and rock. Of course, a smattering of robots and other worldly gadgets will grace the library as well.

Interestingly enough, the exhibit opens the day before what many believe will be the beginning of the end of the world. There is no word from the Library on whether or not the exhibit was planned around the coming of the Apocalypse.

Raymond Taylor’s composition, A Signal from Mars, 1901

Raymond Taylor’s composition, A Signal from Mars, 1901

Raymond Taylor’s composition, A Signal from Mars, 1901Raymond Taylor’s composition, A Signal from Mars, 1901

Raymond Taylor’s composition, A Signal from Mars, 1901

Raymond Taylor’s composition, A Signal from Mars, 1901

Raymond Taylor’s composition, A Signal from Mars, 1901

The curators of the exhibition are blogging here for the duration of the exhibit.
Catalog of the exhibition


Images courtesy of the British Library Board.

The Beauty of Folded Corners: "Dog Ear" by Erica Baum

 For the book collector a dog-ear has a nasty bite, its presence as Kenneth Goldsmith points out in his introductory essay "even when smoothed out and returned to its upright position, scars the page forever."

But for Erica Baum the dog-ear opens up new possibilities for engaging with the text. For the Dog Ear series Baum carefully dog-eared pages of mass market paperbacks and then photographed them.

The diagonal line becomes not only the chosen method of saving one's place but also the jumping off point. The line begets new lines and ultimately new meaning.

Published by Ugly Duckling Presse Dog Ear features 24 full-page plates of Baum's photographs and essays by Kenneth Goldsmith and Béatrice Gross. 

Copies available here

An interview with Baum at Mousse Magazine
Erica Baum on ubuweb.

We're Off to Illustrate the Wizard; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    Zoe Andreas 

Blank Pages, an arm of the London based design agency Fridge Creative, would like you to help illustrate  L. Frank Baum's classic 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz',

 How it Works:

The entire text of the book has been uploaded with blank pages interspersed throughout.
When you happen upon a  blank white page it is need of an illustration. Draw it up and send it off, if the editors like it you're in.

Blank Pages, whose mantra is to "Give old classics a new lease of life,"  plans on releasing other childhood favorites into the wild to be illustrated by the public. They "love seeing unique and creative illustrations, and felt that a wealth of classic stories could be brought back to life with modern day imagination."

Octavi Navarro Torras

 Though there are no immediate plans to offer a printed version of the finished product the creators have not ruled it out.

Eventually, Print on Demand technologies will better align themselves with illustrated texts and projects like these can more easily find their way into a book form. There is a definite market out there.

 

Saturday Night Live Celebrates "Bossypants" with a Look at Woman Writers of the Past

Tina Fey hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend and to celebrate her bestselling book, Bossypants, the folks at SNL created this hysterical homage to woman writers of the past.

Lady Gaga: Self-professed Librarian of Glam

"I am obsessed with all the authors in the library of pop culture." - Lady Gaga

In her inaugural piece for V Magazine Lady Gaga wants you know that she has done her homework.

"Glam culture is ultimately rooted in obsession and those of us who are truly devoted and loyal to the lifestyle of glamour are masters of its history. Or, to put it more elegantly, we are librarians." says Gaga.

She acknowledges the "tremendous amount of studying" she has done over the years in her "library" that featured "Everything from vintage books and magazines I found at the Strand on 12th Street to my dad’s old Bowie posters to metal records from my best friend Lady Starlight to Aunt Merle’s hand-me-down emerald-green designer pumps."

And for you non-believers, Gaga says "dear critics and bullies: get your library cards out, because I’m about to do a reading."

Obama on Poetry

Here are the President's opening remarks for the celebration of poetry and prose hosted by the President, the first lady and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities that took place at the White House on Wednesday night.

Clearly, the President understands the cultural importance and value of  poetry and it is a partisan shame that  it is all overshadowed by the ridiculous controversy stirred up by his opponents.

Gerri Willis, a host on the FOX Business Network had this to say of the event "Of all the pressing issues right now, I don't think poetry should be one of them."

Really? Why not? As Obama alludes to in his remarks, it is through poetry that we can better make sense of our world and the world around us. He also mentions how many of our soldiers were given a book of poetry as they went off to fight in the World War.

Poetry matters.

The Fight for the NYPL: The Next Madison, Wisconsin?

The iconic main branch of the New York Public Library is about to celebrate its 100th birthday. Unfortunately, any celebration will be muted and short-lived as the libray and its supporters brace for the fight of their lives.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's latest budget proposes a $40 million cut to the library budget; it is the most severe cuts ever faced by the library in its 100+ year history. And one cannot think of a worse time. For most, the economy is in the tank while for most libraries usage is up across the board.

We should consider Libraries a sacred community asset, a form of social security or better yet a vital ingredient of our community security. Exposing and providing access to information for our citizens must remain a priority no matter how dire the economic outlook. The health of our communities and our republic depends on it.

Granted the current technological upheaval demands a thorough review of the role of  "the library" and what it means and what it provides but it does not mean the end of the road for libraries.

Perhaps, like the union workers of Wisconsin who fought against the loss of collective bargaining; their most sacred asset, we need to rise up and demand full funding for all libraries across the nation. Maybe we need to occupy the libraries that are slated for closure and march up and down main street protesting the loss of our libraries. There is simply too much to lose.

Above is the screenshot of a website launched to combat the proposed changes at NYPL.

Laura Miller's recent piece at Salon, Why libraries still matter, is worth a read too.

On This Day the Nazi's Burned a lot of Books

May 10, 1933 was a bad day for books. The Nazi's designated the day as the one to burn all the "nation-corrupting books and journals" that existed within Germany. The goal was to rid the country of  “un-German spirit."

Germans view the "pillar of shame" (Schandpfal), a display of "un-German" books and periodicals mounted on a tree stump in the Cathedral Square in Münster. May 6, 1933.

 "You are doing the right thing at this midnight hour—to consign to the flames the unclean spirit of the past. This is a great, powerful, and symbolic act. . . . Out of these ashes the phoenix of a new age will arise. . . . Oh Century! Oh Science! It is a joy to be alive!”" - Joseph Goebbels, Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, speaking at the Berlin book burning, May 10, 1933 that attracted over 40,000 people.

German students gather around books they regard as "un-German." The books will be publically burned at Berlin's Opernplatz. Berlin, Germany, May 10, 1933.

Over 30 burnings took place across the country and the day remains one of the greatest examples of biblioclasm in history.

Online exhibit at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Here is a list of 58 authors whose work was burned.
Bibliography from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the 1933 book burnings.

In the Stacks: The National Archives

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the repository for the documents and materials of the federal government. They only retain about 1-3% of all the material produced by the government but as you can imagine there is some amazing stuff within those walls and, as is the case with all past libraries / collections / archives featured on In The Stacks, one visit is never enough.

Poster:  "In a War-Torn World, Let Good Books Help You", 1941 - 1945

Last week the National Archives announced that they have  teamed with five other national archives and five national and international research organizations to launch a new international online research portal for records related to Nazi-era cultural property.

Here are a couple of related images, just in time for tomorrow's 78th anniversary of the infamous Nazi book burnings.

 

Thousands of books smoulder in a huge bonfire as Germans give the Nazi salute during the wave of book-burnings that spread throughout Germany. International News Photos., 1933

In the cellar of the Race Institute in Frankfurt, Germany, Chaplain Samuel Blinder examines one of hundreds of "Saphor Torahs" (Sacred Scrolls), among the books stolen from every occupied country in Europe, 1945.

and on a lighter note:

Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Just Read!

Enlisted men reading on edge of elevator aboard USS Lexington, 1943

 

Taos County, New Mexico. Children line up for books when Taos County project bookmobile visits school, 1941

Previously on In the Stacks:

Columbia University, From Homer to Howl

Private Libraries at the Museum of the City of New York

Los Angeles Public Library

Boston Public Library

All images and descriptions courtesy of The National Archives.

Target brings haiku to the masses

 Welcome to Haiku-pons, the latest direct mailing for the Target Corporation.

The booklet features coupons from select departments; each adorned with a corresponding haiku.

Now for the fun part. As you clip your way through the booklet new haikus are formed. Above is a complete page, below is the page with the middle coupon excised

What a great idea though the timing could've been a bit better. Why are these showing up in peoples mailboxes the first week of May when April was National Poetry Month?