MUCHO TEXTO
I Jornadas: El objeto Impreso Indeterminado
Joana Bravo - The place of the book: From the church to the museum (and back again)
0:00
-37:43

Joana Bravo - The place of the book: From the church to the museum (and back again)

Why are there books in art museums? There is a crescent trend in recent years to include publications in exhibitions, whether to provide context to curatorial discourses or hung side by side with artworks. But if the book was conceived as an object to be activated (i.e. by the reader), then what happens when that action is prohibited? The first printed book — the Bible — was aimed to be read out loud in cathedrals, places of common worship, where touching was not allowed. After centuries of technological and social transformation, the book had become a secular part of our domestic environments. But are these contemporary disembodied experiences in museums and galleries driving us back to some sort of transcendental connection with the book?

Discussion about this episode