tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post5344239437326674641..comments2023-11-01T00:38:49.400+11:00Comments on Ampersand Duck: the book, is thinking about itAmpersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-21072159734254085182010-03-11T09:17:38.575+11:002010-03-11T09:17:38.575+11:00Oh, anonymous, I'd love you to identify yourse...Oh, anonymous, I'd love you to identify yourself, because that is such a great comment. If not, I'll add you to the wisdom of Anon down the ages. Thank you.Ampersand Duckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-48551517470709698852010-03-11T07:07:13.009+11:002010-03-11T07:07:13.009+11:00I agree with you: the death of the book is being g...I agree with you: the death of the book is being greatly exaggerated at the moment. I think there are several reasons for this. <br /><br />Firstly, large corporations are making e-readers, and want to sell as many as they can as quickly as they can.<br /><br />Secondly, computers, e-readers and other devices of that ilk are made from petroleum, as you say. I have no idea what they can be made out of when there is no more petroleum to be had economically.<br /><br />Thirdly, these devices all run on electricity, which is itself going to have to be revolutionized as to generation and distribution. There will be supply issues there, I am sure. At least for a while.<br /><br />Fouthly, books are not only a robust technology (Lord, that is an ugly phrase), they are readily available. The poor can read, if their education has been even half-way successful. The poor don't have the spare for e-goodies.<br /><br />4a) Print On Demand now removes the problem hiply referred to as "flying dead trees around the world," as though the word "shipping" never referred to ships. <br />4b) Paper itself does not have to consist of wood-pulp. Hemp is much less difficult to render into paper. Most of the energy-requirement and pollution from paper factories comes from the need to take lignin out of wood.<br /><br />Lastly, there will always be a market for beautiful objects.<br /><br />I think the discussion of turning old books into art objects is tangential to the discussion, in a way - turning books into scultpure indicates that they are plentiful objects, not that this will be their main future use. (Consider engine-blocks turned into sculpture.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-7383261052006990712010-03-09T16:56:05.942+11:002010-03-09T16:56:05.942+11:00Ronnie: that point about calligraphy is really val...Ronnie: that point about calligraphy is really valid and interesting. There's a parallel bible thingy happening in letterpress too, did you know? The idea being that if you build it 'extra special, they will come: http://www.arionpress.com/folio-bible.html<br /><br />Mindy: I'm so there with you. I've just been reading a book about books (:)) that talks about how books come with their own innate history in the form of margin notes, dog-ears, and stains, and that ability to be utterly spontaneous with a text just can't be replicated yet (or ever!) with something electronic.<br /><br />Pete, I wish more of you art skool dudes would let me know when you're doing excellent blogging. That's another excellent point about the wood engraving. And you're no.1 on my publishing team when the balloons fly.<br /><br />Zoe: brilliant link. I so agree with him, and eagerly await the time when online peoples can actually set poetry elegantly.<br /><br />I luvs you all.Ampersand Duckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-77524962520954946722010-03-09T13:53:17.940+11:002010-03-09T13:53:17.940+11:00Link for you Ducky, from the twitters
http://bits...Link for you Ducky, from the twitters <br />http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/a-former-book-designer-says-good-riddance-to-print/Zoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01546885088503890394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-34997972901867134472010-03-09T13:19:50.583+11:002010-03-09T13:19:50.583+11:00Hello Duck, there's been an interesting discus...Hello Duck, there's been an interesting discussion around some of these areas on http://micropages.ning.com, of which I was a part until moving into the studio and losing my reliable internet connection! Might be an interesting read (not my bit so much, but lots of other lovely stuff going on in that site).Sara Bowenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05799617148331658067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-78689260043207132532010-03-09T10:56:51.909+11:002010-03-09T10:56:51.909+11:00Hi Ms Duck
All sounds pretty spot on to me and I ...Hi Ms Duck<br /><br />All sounds pretty spot on to me and I think it will work up into quite an interesting paper. I read something recently regarding artists being attracted to once common, now obsolete processes:<br />... the very obsolescence of wood engraving as a commercially vialble means of reproducing drawings meant that it was at last free from the abuses and restrictions so long imposed on it and could thus be considered as a direct form of creative expression." (Walter Chamberlaine, The Thames and Hudson Manual of Wood Engraving, 1978. p46 - ANU library copy currently in my hands but will make it back on the shelf soon). <br /><br />As for peak oil - well I'm of quite an apocalyptic mind myself, so if they need illustrations for that newspaper...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-67527528666516432352010-03-08T16:23:24.574+11:002010-03-08T16:23:24.574+11:00Have you, perchance, read A Gift Upon the Shore by...Have you, perchance, read A Gift Upon the Shore by MK Wren? (http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Upon-Shore-M-Wren/dp/0595143415)AMCSviatkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01848473565900991762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-90326198053000121852010-03-08T16:10:58.590+11:002010-03-08T16:10:58.590+11:00The main reason I will always want books is becaus...The main reason I will always want books is because the only things I need to read one is my eyesight, and a light source. No batteries, plugs, cables, etc etc. Of course I also have the option of learning braille if I ever need to.Mindyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10634135486127575735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-6220843007436620272010-03-08T13:53:07.408+11:002010-03-08T13:53:07.408+11:00hi-dee ho-dee duck
as I was reading through your ...hi-dee ho-dee duck<br /><br />as I was reading through your post it seemed that I could hear an echo (echo...echo...) of themes that have also been rattling through my brain (brain...brain....) of late.<br /><br />my MFA/PhD proposal - just starting out - is actually titled 'codex infinitum - the infinite book' and so I've been thinking/making/reading things in the general direction of the future of books and knowledge in a wwwebby world.<br /><br />I don't know that I'd have anything useful - or more importantly - new - to add research-wise (as I'm confident you'd have a mountain compared to my molehill) so I'll give you a potted version of a couple of my working observations (for what they may be worth) <br /><br />For some years now I've been collecting sets of encyclopaedias (last count I think I've got about 50-ish sets stored in sheds here at sams creek) and these have started figuring in arty pieces - when I started collecting the sets I was surprised to discover that NO ONE (and I really do mean no one) wanted them - they usually weren't even offered for sale at charity shops or booky sales (no one wanted them - they were destined for the skip and landfill). I had ached as a kiddie for a set of encyclopaedia brittanica - and here they were headed to the tip.... such as been the rate of change in how information is now gathered, stored, utilised and updated that past treasured booky volumes of knowledge are now - well deemed mostly useless.<br /><br /><br />so yep I was nodding my head where you wrote:<br />"Now that books have pretty much ceased to be the dominant provider of information......there is no better time to be pushing it as a symbol, even a relic" blah blah etc. <br /><br />and that is an active part of what I try to bring to works that I'm doing with old encyclopaeds.... (you may have caught up with a few bits and bobs from my blog?)<br /><br />righto so that's where my brain is at arty-making-wise - the other thing I'd add here (and please forgive me if I'm going over familiar territory - or worse - sending you to sleep with mindless rambling!)<br /><br />one thing I've noticed in calligraphy was that its peak in popularity (the late 1980s-early 1990s) coincided with the revolution of home computing/ desktop publishing... but before the www and wiki.... I'd be interested in finding how closely that experience is mirrored in book arts (is it just me or do book arts still seem to be growing in popularity/ visibility?)<br /><br />and lastly (still awake?) - is the st johns bible project<br /><br />http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/<br /><br />of interest/ relevance to what you're driving at?<br /><br />ahhhh geeez I'm rambling.... <br /><br />would love to be a fly on the wall at mackay.... sending you good vibes for a great presentation<br /><br />ronnie xronniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02260679591630131813noreply@blogger.com