A controversial sculpture by “book artist” and Cornell University Art Department head Buzz Spector. The C-shaped structure is made up of over 800 books, all of them authored by Cornell faculty, students or alumni. The piece was originally installed in downtown Manhattan (pictured above); recently, it was reconstructed here in Ithaca, New York. More information, pictures, and an installation video can be found here.
Any thoughts?
The temptation to give it a kick is almost irresistible. Did they epoxy it together? I’d say it makes a point, but not a very exciting one.
No, that would ruin all the books.
Well, they missed a chance for some great audience participation performance art. I walk in, go around it, glance about, and seeing nobody, BLAM! I bust my toe on it, much to the amusement of those watching the videotape.
Is the fact that the progressive reduction in the height of ‘C’ towards the trailing edge a play on the reduced number of eminent books published out of Cornell nowadays? Just a thought…
I’m glad someone found a use for the books.
(They also make good insulation and are effective at stopping small caliber weapon fire.)
Does C celebrate all universities whose name starts with the letter ‘C’? Or does it stand for ‘cool’ or ‘cute’?
Why is it a red ‘C’?
The image does not download to my slow (free) internet connection at home.
Scarlet letter?
Sad: Academia reduced to an unreadable symbol.
School should be about the Students! They are the pillars:
http://www.jonrubin.net/work.php?x=55
Does anybody else want to follow D.’s lead and approach the piece as something other than a total joke?
Arthur,
I thought I did… (see above) Maybe that is what the artist intended. I could not find any other meaning in that… A play on eminent publications coming out of educational institutions…
Arthur,
I don’t see the image here on A&P. I checked out the link you provided. Okay, it’s a stack of books. I think it would have to be a lot bigger to have a real impact. At the Hirshhorn about 20 years ago I saw an instillation of 50,000 five cent coins meant to represent Soviet tanks. That was impressive, but it wouldn’t have been with 800 coins. I suggest that Buzz try 80,000 books. I think people might take him more seriously then. Some interesting technical issues might arise. I see the big red C as a simple sketch, not a joke, but not much more than a test, either.
Arthur,
Some weeks ago you proposed the idea that art is “world building.” I’ve been thinking about that idea a lot. Have you made any progress with it? Could you relate it to this sculpture? Can the concept of art as world-building tell us is this sculpture is or is not art?
Sunil,
Yes, you’re right, that might be what the artist intended. The sloping may also reflect the lack of material (see below). It also makes the shape more interesting.
Karl,
The piece was conceived with the constraint that the books be authored by faculty or other associates of Cornell. I won’t get into the political details, but it should suffice to say that there was some resistance to the idea. Hence the project may not have been as large as originally intended (I’m going on hearsay here).
I’m working on a longer post on the project for my own site. I’ll try to summarize.
Very generally, I find the formal aspects of the piece—the overall shape, the colors and textures—more interesting than the “message”, or at least the overt message. So it symbolizes the unity of knowledge at a prestigious academic institution. I find this very hokey and maudlin—not necessarily “sad”, as D. says, but boring.
On the other hand, I really like stacks and piles. So I’m open to books on the floor as an art form, even if it doesn’t represent an impressive feat of engineering. But if you think that I’m full of it, let me know (maybe with an argument of some kind).
I should also say that I haven’t seen the thing in person yet.
Karl,
No, I haven’t been thinking about world building as such. Do you want do a post on your own thoughts? That would be fine with me.
Now that we finally see the picture, I am amazed at how unsoundly the ‘C’ is erected. Show the artist a brick wall!
I like stacks and piles, too. This could be more interesting if there were structure to the arrangement that represented, for example, knowledge relationships. I think I’d find more interesting a huge pile of books on a desk, some open as if they were being used, etc.
Its true, that would be more interesting. Past projects by Spector have focused on books by or about specific artists or writers or focusing on a specific topic (e.g. art history). Other projects have featured books that have been physically altered in interesting ways.
Arthur, I have to say that some local blogger ridiculing the piece hardly makes it controversial.
Here’s what I get out of the artwork. (I’m assuming, by the way, that red is the color of the letter that Cornell students wear on their jackets.) In academia there’s the whole publish or perish situation, which results in hundreds of things being published each year (nationally) whose main purpose is to keep their authors employed. So you end up with the edifice of academia being constructed of unreadable books. The trailing off at the tail of the “C” is an interesting choice. Does it imply that the wall is still being constructed, or that the builder ran out of materials (or funding)? A wall of course is an powerful symbol in itself. It keeps some people in, and some people out. If there were more books, would the “C” be higher, or would it form a circle, enclosing the builder?
I like it formally as well… And conceptually. Much better than some monumental Richard Serra type thing.
I think there is cynicism about academia here, which I can relate too. As well, it is making something tangible, physical, of this earthly world (and beautiful in my opinion, in a concise way) out of something intellectual, “other worldly,” and perhaps unreadable (although why do we assume that?). Very Plato versus Aristotle, right?
…unreadable (although why do we assume that?)
I’m sure it’s a mix. There’s a lot of stuff that gets published each year by academics carving out their little kingdoms. But if there are books in the stack by Cornell alumnus Thomas Pynchon and his teacher Vladimir Nabokov, then the wall would have at least a few really good bricks.
Arthur, is “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me” in there? We’re counting on you to check the titles in person and report back. This is one work that should come with a bibliography.
This sculpture, with a better choice of background and support, would make a great subject for a photograph or painting. Photographing a sculpture well is not trivial. This is simply a plain photo.
Spector does take nice artsy photographs of his book installations. I think you can find one at one of the above links (I don’t have the time to look for it now). You can see the camera in the background of the above image.