Tune in today as J.J. Abrams capitalizes on the concepts of interactive storytelling, deep maps, secret histories, and some really fabulous book production.
…Not that I’m snarking too much, because I am always thrilled when this form of interactive art media snags more willing victims. I am even looking forward to reading this newest addition.
But I find it hilarious that Publishers Weekly and other major entertainment outlets are falling all over themselves about the new book S from J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst. It may be classy, adventurous, and reaching millions of fans based only on the name of its co-writer – but the idea is not new.
Created by Mulholland Press in concert with the designers at Melcher Media, S is a book within a book, a story told in the annotated ‘notes’, clever aging of pages, and strategic inserts.
So where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah, right: 1991’s Griffin & Sabine novels from Nick Bantock and Chronicle Books. Which were all kinds of awesome even if they were commercially produced. This odd little series inspired a generation of book artists/journal-writers/mixed media artists into telling stories with as many layers of ephemera as possible.
Where else have I heard it, more recently? Hmm. How about everywhere in the book arts community? My friend Cheryl Penn just celebrated the extension of her compiled series The Encyclopedia of Everything to 150 books, from authors and artists all over the world.
Want more? Try Artist Books 3.0 or FuckYeahBookArts, and you’ll see what I mean. Look for folks like Keith Smith, Carol Barton, Tim Ely, or Brian Dettmer. In 2010 Turner Classic Movies launched an iconic ‘pop up book’ opening sequence that is enchanting for its realism and nods to film industry watershed moments.
Book artists are the geeks. The outsider artists. Those crazy fools who spent our time creating intimate, sequential, handheld art instead of ‘big art for big houses’. (Thank you, unnamed pretentious gallery in north Scottsdale, for handing me that phrase over a decade ago. I couldn’t have voiced your mission statement better myself, though not for the reasons you probably intended.)
Sometimes we jump ship into the comics, graphic novels, or sequential storytelling fields, and become better known there.
Book artists may become the arts equivalent of the Tolkien fans who existed out of the limelight for decades, our obsessions largely unknown to the outside world, until Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens brought Middle-Earth into reality with the last decade of Tolkien films. It helped that those movies are blockbusters.
Even with J.J. Abrams on board, I don’t think S will have the same popularizing influence on the book arts culture. I believe every bit of exposure can help bring more artists, readers, and collectors.
But our artforms were not invented by J.J. Abrams.
I’m embarrassed to admit this is fairly new to me. Is there a simple, encompassing definition of book arts?
Heh, not really. It depends on who you ask. In general, book art falls into ‘forms of sequential art, art arranged in interactive book forms, art in unreadable book-like forms, or art created from repurposed printed books.’ In my case, the materials and construction of the book are as important as the text.
Thanks for answering. 🙂
It’s a sort of answer. You’ll get different answers if you go to some of the book arts sites I mentioned earlier. That’s why I love the artform so much.