Art Metropole

#04486

Something, somewhat, somehow

Curator

Nestor Kruger

Date

2008

Publisher

Art Metropole

Format

Artists' Books

Details

Softcover

ISBN

978-0-9809184-1-0

Size

21.6 × 21.6 cm

Length

0 

Description

“Something, somewhat, somehow” is the result of a collaborative project between the undergraduate students in the Special Topics course in Sculpture; The Thing was Here: Fabricating Evidence of a Sculptural Experience at the University of Guelph held in the fall semester of 2008 with their instructor: Nestor Kruger.

The book’s initial direction and formal structure was presented by the instructor and the students provided the content, participated in the layout and supplied both the index and cover pages. The content originated out of a three-stage process:

1. To document a 3-dimensional found object through a 2-dimensional representation such as photography or drawing.

2. To write a 1-2 page description of the 2-dimensional representation of the 3-dimensional object.

3. To produce a 3-dimensional object based on the written description of the 2-dimensional representation of the 3-dimensional object.

During the process documents from steps 1 and 2 were exchanged between the students so that no one was responsible for writing or building a model based on their own 2-dimensional representation or written description.

The book is presented in the form of a catalogue and examines the complex relationship we have to objects. The catalogue functions as a typological display – such as field guides or archaeological texts – simply as a presentation of ephemera. The book also follows the long tradition of artist books that use basic formal conventions in book design to examine how we organize and present ideas: the book as legitimizing form; the book as formal document for an event or theory; the book as basic description and, finally, the book as a site of change and exchange.

The students/artists/writers for the book are: Heather Carey, Krista Commission, Anthony Cooper, Laura Dooreleyers, Katie V. Green, Brittany V. Hartley, Julie Hunter, Dylan Mannik-Zulinski, Samuel Silversides, Miles Stemp, Brian Watson, Donna Willard, Alison Zuk

1.