22 June 2011

Different readings

How do you combine texts in languages that are read differently - back to front, as it were? Here's what Veronika Schapers did in combining Japanese and German text in here "A Safe Method to Pass University Entrance Examinations in the Subject of Japanese" -
The German text starts at the front, the Japanese text at the back - and where they meet in the middle is the imprint. After coming across her work some time ago, I'm glad to be reminded of it and learn more (here with a link to a video - in which she says the stamping of the pages took three months - "hard, boring but also sometimes like contemplation/concentration work"). The thin pages allow some show-through, and the book has a japanese binding stitched with a paper thread. The case is in the form of omamori - magic charms that you can buy at shrines where you pray for success in exams, and take the charms to the examination.

Other language combinations are equally tricky - Hebrew with English, for example - here is jewellery artist Esther Knobel's "The Mind in the Hand" - showing her work with iron thread -
On the back of the book is the "back side" of the embroidery - behind which, the Hebrew text starts.

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