a book is a performance, Centrespace, VRC, 24 April - 26 May

a book is a performance was an exhibition showcasing artists’ books and multiples to explore and expand the twin concepts of performance and performativity. Considering how books stage images, enact ideas and direct experiences to subversive effect, this exhibition presented thoughts and actions grounded in ritual, gesture, mime, documentation and scores through works by Christian Boltanski, Nina Chua, Thomas A. Clark, Marcus Coates, Cullinan Richards, Helen Douglas, Alec Finlay, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Richard Hamilton, Sharon Kivland, Li Yuan-chia, Richard Long, Tracy Mackenna & Edwin Janssen, Bruce McLean, Simon Morris, Yoko Ono, Edgar Schmitz with Ulli Lommel, Hans Waanders, Viola Yeşiltaç among many others.

The exhibition was permeated by two performances to illuminate and evoke the page as live space.

Alec Finlay gave a performance reading, Out of Books, on 24 April, 5 - 7.30pm.

Alec read from his poetry while Roseangle Cafe Arts served green tea, a peaceful, reflective interlude to a typically busy Preview night.

Later Sarah Sanders' Durational performance, I used to, 18 May, 1 - 4.30pm, coincided with Ignite Dundee 2013. Audiences watched and read as she wrote continuously over the afternoon contemplating thoughts or actions she 'used to' have. Many noted they shared these experiences and Sarah's writing remained on the floor until the end of the exhibition allowing others to see the remnants of her performance.

The works featured in the exhibition were selected from the collection and recent acquisitions of CAB (Centre for Artists’ Books) at Visual Research Centre, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design. The exhibition was co-curated by Exhibitions at DJCAD and Dr Lisa Otty, an AHRC Early Career Fellow at The Centre for the History of the Book, University of Edinburgh.

You can read Alex Hetherington's review on Aesthetica Blog and Kate MacRitchie's thoughts on the exhibition published on Pinso.

For more information and photographs please see our website.

Photos: Ross Fraser McLean.