Re:structure

the book as a performative object

Bianca Nitu

Hypothesis

The library is founded on the traditional principle of being interested in traditional material culture, but when it comes to digital objects their constraints and contexts are different.

i. Libraries are information spaces inhabited by books.

ii. A book is a frame for its content.

iii. Typography is the appearance of the content.

(In a chain reaction) if typography mutates to become three-dimensional then the contents of the book will require a different performance from the reader. As a result, the library becomes a different space, an embodied space for performing this new book format.

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Practice exploration

'Re-structure' is a speculative research project looking at how to re-imagine the book as a performative object. Throughout the research, the notion of 'object boundary' (1) is used to explore the anatomy of the book: its content (2) and mode of navigating/reading it (3). This project aims to involve the audience in a discussion about the future of books and emerging technologies.

Using the book ‘Graphic design manual’ by Armin Hoffman, I wanted to explore its boundaries by creating a digital extension to the original artifact (apply the object-boundary theory in practice). The outcome of the research experiment is a prototype of this digital extension created using Adobe Dimension, Adobe XD and HTML Interactive Canvas.

(1) The object boundary includes whatever is considered to be the artifact, the original source (in this context, the book as physical object) plus whatever other resources are brought into the performance (for example, 3D elements and 3D environment). This digital extension is an exploration of what happens when book contents are taken from their original source (the fixed position of traditional printed surface) and extended/translated into 3D space (fluid navigation).

(2) The book content consists of hypotext (the original source, the author's writing) and paratext (additional resources that shape the experience of hypotext: images, table of contents, author's name, footnotes, typography, cover). The paratext forms a framework for the main text and can change the way a text is received or interpreted by the reader.

(3) Navigation in 3D space: how would the reading experience be impacted if the paratext of a book was in 3D space? The paratext is a framing device used to offer an extended context to the original source and enhance the reading experience. Would reading a book in 3D space benefit the reader for a better understanding of information, a new layer of meaning?