Rhonda Ayliffe - 'Codex Infinitum' (the infinite book) MFA Proposal - 2009
- research topic outline:For my MFA with Monash I intend creating a body of work that uses the book to delve into the philosophical quagmire of knowledge and epistemology and relate this to site and issues of sustainability. I anticipate creating an installation of cross-disciplined, hybrid works that utilise both traditional and contemporary book arts alongside photography and video - to be presented in a site(s) sympathetic and complicit to the work's discourse.
- background
The traditional artisanal arenas of calligraphy, book arts and their associated crafts are the foundation of my arts practice: I've been a Guild Member1 (or peer acknowledged 'master') of the Australian Society of Calligraphers since 1995, and in recent years have exhibited widely as a contemporary book artist2. This background has not only supplied me with an unusual skill set, it has granted me an intimate relationship with books.
A significant development in my present practice is the inclusion of photography and video alongside traditional craft, that hopefully creates a dialogue between old and new technologies. As I've been completing my MVA with Monash over the past 12 months, I have been creating ephemeral sculptural book works whose short existence has been documented as photos and video. This documentation is ultimately re-presented in projected form - where the physical and material is transformed to the digital and finally to coloured light.
- Project:
With 'Codex Infinitum' I intend using the book as symbol and signifier of knowledge where my focus will be in the exploring the future of books/knowledge in the wake of the web 2.0 revolution. Traditional crafts associated with the production of books, such as bookbinding, calligraphy and letterpress, have historically held an abiding connection to those patriarchal institutions of wealth and power; the church and the state. As such they have been intimately associated with the acquisition, control and dissemination of knowledge. They are also skills that have undergone shifts in value and relevance since the advent of Gutenberg's press.
I will be creating a body of work that hybridises the fields of traditional book arts and photo media. Thus I don't intend my work to be viewed as a static and nostalgic monument to the past - a type of craft wunderkammer. Through the use of photography, video and installation I intend to stretch the physical and conceptual properties and possibilities of the book.
My work is firmly situated at my family property on the Far South Coast of NSW; much of my creative impetus derives from my extended connection to this land and an active interest in permaculture and transition culture with their dual emphases on sustainability. My rural heritage, arts background and focus on issues of sustainability make for an uncommon mix. This interlocution is an integral and important aspect of my work and is one I intend developing with my MFA projected work.
- aims of proposed project:
- extend the structural and conceptual ideas of the book
- relate knowledge and the book to site, and site with sustainability
- provide oblique critique of contemporary culture by highlighting issues of sustainability via material usage and subject matter
- to bring these separate areas together in a unified body of work whose focus and location is rural and connected rather than urban and distanced.
5. rationale for project:
My principal objective with 'codex infinitum' is neither to define or depict knowledge nor to presume or predict the future of the book; my desire is to create work that has multiple, even dichotomous meanings that allows an audience to consider the potentials of knowledge and the book in contemporary culture. Equally, given my rural location and interest in sustainability I hope to draw attention to site and environment that is decidedly different to urban environmentally inspired projects. In bringing the disparate parts of my practice and interests together I expect it will provide an exciting and active component for a culture in transition.
6. methods:
Process is the foundation of my practice – of equal value to concept and media. I rarely outsource any part of the creative process – instead I develop the skills required to realise my ideas. I utilise finely honed traditional and contemporary craft skills associated with book arts (calligraphy, bookbinding, letterpress) to create new book structures, often incorporating old books in the process. Equally however, I manipulate, modify, alter, and sometimes destroy collected volumes in order to create works. Primarily I will be creating a body of work that hybridises the fields of traditional book arts and photo media.
Texts by Johanna Drucker including 'The Alphabetic Labyrinth'3 and 'Figuring the Word'4 have provided a jumping off point for my work – as has the work of Australian 'book' artists5 such as Peter Lyssiotis, Adele Outteridge, Gracia Haby, Angela Cavalieri, Clyde McGill, Nicholas Jones6, Jayne Dyer7 (et al). 'The Lure of the Local'8 by Lucy R Lippard has proved pivotal in organising my thinking regarding site, but it is writings on permaculture9 and transition culture10 that have influenced my work more than any other source. With the forthcoming work I anticipate further reading in sustainable agriculture and artists engaging in issues of sustainability in their practice (eg the Slow Art Collective11) alongside comprehensive research of contemporary book artists and artists utilising the book as subject as well as material or form.
Books/ book forms have qualities that are sympathetic to my material and conceptual concerns – books are instantly and widely recognisable, they are personal yet universal, simultaneously precious and disposable, tactile and sculptural, they demand time as well as space... Books have infinite possibilities.
1 http://www.asoc.org.au/ASCMain.html (accessed 18.10.09)
2 Toutillott, Suzanne J.E. Ed. 500 Handmade Books; East Gippsland Art Gallery. Books... Beyond Words catalogue.
3 Drucker, Johanna. The Alphabetic Labyrinth: The Letters in History and Imagination.
4 Drucker, Johanna. Figuring the Word.
5 East Gippsland Art Gallery. Books... Beyond Words catalogue.
6 http://bibliopath.org/ (accessed 19.10.09)
7 http://www.ubergallery.com/ (accessed 19.10.09)
8 Lippard, Lucy R. The Lure of the Local. Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society.
9 Mollison Bill, Introduction to Permaculture. ; Holmgren, David. Permaculture – Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.
10 Hopkins, Rob. The Transition Handbook – From oil dependency to local resilience.
11 http://sac-ts2.blogspot.com/ (accessed 18.11.09)
