The Book as a Symbolic Object in Art

Persistent URL of this record https://hdl.handle.net/1887/33823

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Media Studies (MA)

Dumitrica, Elena-Gratiela (2013)

The Book as a Symbolic Object in Art

Master thesis | Media Studies (MA)

This thesis attempts to trace the history of a century of book art: from Futurism to the digital era. It brings to attention relevant examples of art works and their creators, proving that the evolution of the book-object has now reached another revolutionary point, similar to the one that allowed the Futurist movement to flourish. The thesis finds its inherent relevance in the sense of emergency that today surrounds both book studies and the paper book. Furthermore, it covers a less explored niche, as it refers only in passing to artists’ books. This paper wishes to shed light on the alternative life of the printed books – forgotten, discarded, abandoned – and, ultimately, to prove that contemporary book art is mostly a product of the insecurities of the digital medium. In focusing on the visual and intellectual reinterpretation of the book, it will ultimately reflects upon the future of the book this age of digital uncertainty.