If you’ve hung around Book Patrol long enough you know I’ve got a hankering for the representation of books in art.
Now thanks to the French artist Yves Duranthon the relationship between books and art just got a whole lot more physical.
It’s called ‘bookfighting’ and earlier this month about 40 people gathered at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris to get it on.
Think dodgeball in a cage as combatants throw the book at each other trying to score points.
And where might such a wild idea come from? Duranthon credits the Japanese writer Yuichi Yokoyama whose novel Combats features a character who defends himself from being attacked by Samurai by throwing books at them.
Of course, not everyone is happy. It seems the older you are the bigger problem you have with ‘bookfighting’.
“Younger participants seem very uninhibited about mishandling the books…Older people have a huge problem with ‘bookfighting’: they don’t like the fact that we’re mixing sports and culture” says Duranthon who sees his artistic endeavor as a metaphor for the general shift from print to the new digital reality.
Just think of all the possibilities:
Roller Derby-like pen names for the combatants, a special evening featuring only hardbacks, a night of Romance vs. Mystery…
Source: ‘Bookfighting’ Will Actually Make You Want to Throw Books at People | VICE | United Kingdom