I recently found myself lost in the pages of a glorious exhibition catalog titled DESIGNED FOR DELIGHT: Alternative Aspects of Twentieth-Century Decorative Arts (Flammarion, 1997) which documents a traveling exhibition organized by the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts. In the section "Inversion and Transformation," a beautiful and evocative photograph of a necklace by Finnish artist Janna Syvanoja entitled "Books" (1990) mesmerized me. The necklace captures the experience of viewing a row of books with gilt edges from above. There is a lyrical simplicity to it all. She isolates one aspect of our experience of the book and revels in its...
"Language of the Birds"
A new permanent installation by artists Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn was unveiled last Sunday in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood.Language of the Birds consists of "23 illuminated white polycarbonate books suspended in midair with their pages opened as if startled into flight." Etched in the concrete below, as if they fell from the pages above, are words and phrases from over 90 local authors.The installation is powered by solar panels that are mounted on top of nearby City Lights bookstore.The unveiling was accompanied by a performance art piece that included "dancers, a marching band and two nearly naked nymphs...
Hitler’s Golden Bookmark Found
An 18-carat gold bookmark belonging to Adolf Hitler has been recovered in Bellevue, Washington.The bookmark was stolen from a Spanish auction house in 2002 and hadn't been seen since.The bookmark was given to Hitler in 1943 by his long-time lover Eva Braun. It was purportedly given to him as a consolation for his army's defeat in the battle of Stalingrad.The bookmark is inscribed in part "My Adolf, don't worry…(the defeat)… was only an inconvenience that will not break your certainty of victory."37-year-old Christian Popescu was arrested outside a Starbucks with the bookmark by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. He...
Capote on Ice
Truman Capote ice skating at Rockefeller Center in New York City - 1959. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.The second installment in Book Patrol's new series Life of Google, featuring images from the vast archives of Life magazine that now appear on Google.
BibliObama : The Coming of a Literate President
Last week president-elect Barack Obama called Argentine President Cristina Fernandez. It is commonplace for a president-elect to check in with world leaders before they take office but here's the kicker:According to the Latin America News Agency, Prensa Latina, Cristina Fernandez "told reporters accompanying her that Obama expressed his desire to visit Argentina, which he called a great country, and recalled his life as university student when he was acquainted with the work of Julio Cortazar and Jorge Luis Borges."Obama has already been seen carrying books about current events, Fareed Zakaria's Post American World; poetry, Derek Walcott's Collected Poems; and history,...