Beyond Pedagogy and Aesthetics: Werner Pfeiffer's ''Errantry'': Difference between revisions
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==Defining Artist Books== | ==Defining Artist Books== | ||
There is a constant debate about whether artists' books qualify more as art or as books. Jo Milne, an artist and researcher argues that artist books are "hybrids resistant to definition."<ref>Milne, Jo. "Artists’ Books as Resistant Transmitters." Arts, vol. 8, no. 4, 2019, pp. 129. ProQuest, https://proxy.library.upenn.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/artists-books-as-resistant-transmitters/docview/2546881581/se-2, doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/arts8040129.</ref> | There is a constant debate about whether artists' books qualify more as art or as books. Jo Milne, an artist and researcher argues that artist books are "hybrids resistant to definition."<ref>Milne, Jo. "Artists’ Books as Resistant Transmitters." Arts, vol. 8, no. 4, 2019, pp. 129. ProQuest, https://proxy.library.upenn.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/artists-books-as-resistant-transmitters/docview/2546881581/se-2, doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/arts8040129.</ref> Artist books, at times, do not even look like the typical codex. Regardless of this, they are charged with meaning and possibility. Interacting with an artist's book tends to be a sensorial mission guided by carefully chosen materiality. | ||
There are many different formats for the artist book. As mentioned before, not all of them resemble the codex. In fact, there are foldable books, scrolls, series of objects in unison with text, and visual art alongside writing. Because there are many different ways to handle an artist's book depending on the format and approach, the stories (if any) are not always linear. In the case of ''Errantry'', the artist's book is actually a scroll. Because of the navigation style a scroll invites is linear, the materiality of this particular book lends itself to a linear narrative. The visual elements of the project and the intentions behind it add to the discourse in defining artists' books. The materiality and intention of ''Erantry'' will be discussed further in another section. | |||
==Werner Pfeiffer as Artist and Author== | ==Werner Pfeiffer as Artist and Author== | ||
Revision as of 08:16, 3 May 2023
Errantry is an artist book created by Werner Pfeiffer. The book was published in 2008 by Pear Whistle Press located in Red Hook, New York. This copy is the twelfth in a series of 52 signed and numbered copies.
Overview
Errantry is housed in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts located on the fifth and sixth floors of the University of Pennsylvania's Van Pelt-Dietrich Library. The library directly purchased this copy from Pfeiffer. This book challenges the traditional expectations of a book and measures up to the liminality between publications and art. Pfeiffer's work, and that of other artists, add to the debate concerned about the purpose and point of artist books.
Defining Artist Books
There is a constant debate about whether artists' books qualify more as art or as books. Jo Milne, an artist and researcher argues that artist books are "hybrids resistant to definition."[1] Artist books, at times, do not even look like the typical codex. Regardless of this, they are charged with meaning and possibility. Interacting with an artist's book tends to be a sensorial mission guided by carefully chosen materiality.
There are many different formats for the artist book. As mentioned before, not all of them resemble the codex. In fact, there are foldable books, scrolls, series of objects in unison with text, and visual art alongside writing. Because there are many different ways to handle an artist's book depending on the format and approach, the stories (if any) are not always linear. In the case of Errantry, the artist's book is actually a scroll. Because of the navigation style a scroll invites is linear, the materiality of this particular book lends itself to a linear narrative. The visual elements of the project and the intentions behind it add to the discourse in defining artists' books. The materiality and intention of Erantry will be discussed further in another section.
Werner Pfeiffer as Artist and Author
'Errantry' Collection
'Errantry' Form and Structure
Interestingly, the book is a scroll housed inside an artillery casing. The entire piece is within a chest box.
References
- ↑ Milne, Jo. "Artists’ Books as Resistant Transmitters." Arts, vol. 8, no. 4, 2019, pp. 129. ProQuest, https://proxy.library.upenn.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/artists-books-as-resistant-transmitters/docview/2546881581/se-2, doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/arts8040129.