Video: The Book as Object, Sculpture, & Performance

This past weekend, I had the joy and honour of sharing an encore presentation of The Book as Object, Sculpture, & Performance at the When Words Collide festival for readers and writers. I presented this session for the first time back in 2019 in Calgary, Alberta, when the conference was still live. Getting to present it again online, this time as part of the 2021 virtual conference, means I now have a video record… well, of this one performance of it at least!

The session’s description from the program: “Why does the physical book still have such appeal in a world of tablets and e-books? What’s the difference between a book reader and a book collector? How can one justify having a house full of books that they likely will never be able to finish reading? Is a book still a book if you can’t read it? Join a lifelong reader, book designer, and book collector in a wide-ranging discussion of the book as a material and cultural object, and expand your appreciation and love of this singularly magical medium.”

I do want to apologise in advance for the lack of accessibility… I and the conference volunteers were and are still new to video as a format, and so unfortunately this video does not include closed captioning.

I will also note that video, presenter, and presentation can all be described as uncut, unedited, and unpolished. It’s a stream of consciousness, I didn’t stick very closely to the script or notes, and a good half of my show-and-tell examples never made it to screen. This is not a slick production, but I hope my enthusiasm for the topic makes up for it.

I do, however, explore a lot of these same ideas in more detail elsewhere in our library stacks, and with a bit more form and editing. Once you are done watching the video, and if you’re interested in reading more, I invite you to explore other entries under the Book as Performance heading here in the Library.

I also presented a second session titled Altered Books: When one artist’s finished book becomes the raw materials for another that takes a deeper dive into the concept of Book as Sculpture.

But first, some thoughts on The Book as Object, Sculpture, & Performance…

Happy Viewing!

– Winston

( P.S. In response to the question asked at 19:11 in the video, please check out Books as Wall Art: A Practical Guide )