bodyPARTS/bookARTS

bodyPARTS/bookARTS

March 15 – June 5, 2016

Drawing on examples from the Artists’ Book Collection, this exhibit explores the theme of the body and its multiple component parts. It was curated by graduate students enrolled in LIS: 855 (Art Librarianship) during spring 2016. Representations of the body in visual culture are myriad and no less so in book arts. A subject of artistic investigation throughout history, the body has played a prominent role in social, cultural, economic, and political events, discourse and action.

The books on display convey our corporeality through a varied prism: gender, identity, power, race, science, beauty, and medicine. In these works, the body can be seen in a state of constant change and struggle, marked by the dehumanizing aspects of technology, the fragility and fragmentation of life, the mutable concepts of beauty, and the body marginalized and censored. Lighter notes are found with works depicting humorous names for body parts, bold gestural drawings of organs and bones, and an anatomical paper model.

Working under the direction of their instructor, Lyn Korenic, each student selected and researched two artists’ books from the Kohler Art Library and wrote caption labels. The students worked collaboratively to install the exhibit.

The curators are: Emma Babler, Meri Rose Ekberg, Molly Goltry, Sigrid Peterson, Erin Rose, Maddie Shovers, and Abby Wanserski.

Special thanks to Dan Joe, General Library System Graphic Designer, for his assistance with caption labels and signage.

The exhibition runs from March 15-June 5, 2016

image:  Jana Sim.  Meter, [2011]