Anne Covell , hand-drawn card illustrations, Book Artok Art

Anne Covell, Natural Order_ A Game of Pairs, Artists book_card game, 30 hand-drawn card illustrations, learning guide and case letterpress printed from polymer, 8.1 cm X 6.25 cm X 1.25 cm, 2012

Anne Covell , accordion handmade kozo, Book Art

Anne Covell, Raking Light, Accordion, letterpress linoleum reduction, handmade kozo, 12.5 cm x 8.75 cm x 0.65 cm, 2012

Banoo Batliboi, abstraction of book art, Digital print

Banoo Batliboi, Age of Shiva, Digital print on metallic paper, 47 cm x 37 cm, 2014

Banoo Batliboi, Pacific patterns, Digital print on metallic paper, 47 cm x 37 cm, 2014

Banoo Batliboi, The travel book, Digital print on metalic paper, 47 cm x 37 cm, 2014

Bandana Tulachan, Bun Dyo of the Rain and other short stories, 80 pages, 80 gsm off white paper, case bound, Edition 1, self published

Ben Barbour, Abandoned Dhows, Al Wakrah, Mixed media on a page from a discarded ledger book from the Ministry of Agriculture & Industry, Qatar, 35 cm x 50 cm

Deng Yifu, Diplomatic History (Y1145-Gun), Book and Perspex with Screws, 20.3 cm x 14 cm x 4.2 cm, 2003-05

Madiha Sikander, Roses are Red, Gadrung on paper, 11.5 cm x 17.5 cm x 1.25 cm, 2014

Meera Devidayal, Artist book, digital print

Meera Devidayal, Into the Rose Garden, Artist book, Digital print on photo paper, 2014

Preksha Tater, Sketchbook and e-proxy composed

Preksha Tater, I feel..., Sketchbook and e-proxy composed, 21.5 cm x 13.5 cm x 12.5 cm

Preksha Tater, _I feel....., Sketchbook and e-proxy composed, 27.5 cm x 12.5 cm x 10 cm

Rabindra Shreshta, Vs (versus), Sketchbook and e-proxy composed, 53.5 cm x 34 cm X 12.5 cm

Samanta Batra Mehta, Antiquarian books, Ink, graphite, gesso

Samanta Batra Mehta, The Anthropology of Time, Antiquarian books, Ink, graphite, gesso, 23k gold leaf , plastic plants, 2012

Samit Das, Hand stitched Unique book art

Samit Das, Vibrations and Silence-4, Card board egg box & paper, Hand stitched Unique Artwork, 16.5 cm x 11 cm x 6.5 cm (Egg box), variable when unfolded, 2002

Samit Das, Vibrations and Silence-5, Drawing ink on acid free handmade paper, pencil, cut out and burnt lines, Set of two books, Unique artist books, 21 cm x 15 cm x 3 cm and 21 cm x 15 cm x 2 cm, 2013

Sarwagya Nembang (Ubahang), A Place Called Home, 32 pages, special ivory paper, hard-bound, edition 1 (6 copies)

Sathyanand Mohan, Chronical, archival photographs

Sathyanand Mohan , Chronical, set of 25 photographs, 40 cm x 60 cm (each), 2013

Tanmoy Samanta, Recycled book, paperboard & gouache

Tanmoy Samanta, The Cartographer's Paradox, Recycled book, paperboard & gouache on rice paper, 22.5 cm x 37.5 cm x 2.5 cm, 2014

Zach Stensen, Elementary Astronomy, Dryfire Press, 15.7 cm x 23.2 cm, 29 pages Edition of 22, 2011

Installation

Reading Room, Kochi Biennale

The 'Reading Room' is a journey of discoveries and experiences, of nostalgia and witness; a space where the many and varied perspectives and practices of the book arts find a place of meeting, dialogue and expression.

Book art demands both anaesthetic engagement andcritical conceptual inquiry into the work. Aesthetic engagement with book art requires a paradigm shift reading a different logic in the book: the logic of the visual, textural and cultural. Traditionally, the book has signified knowledge, and can be considered visually embedded cultural site because of this history(consider the manytimes thatbooks havebeen burnt as acts of symbolic violence). It is a site where many versions of history, senses of identity and narratives (both dominant and counter) converge.

The book in contemporary art, is thus an object completely transformed - not just in its structure, but also in its meaning. Walter Benjamin calls this the' renewal of existence'. This sense of renewal is to be experienced in the work of the exhibiting artists brought together in conversation in the 'Reading Room'. The mood is sometimes fantastical and playful, and sometimes evocative and intimate. At its most activist, it stands as a collective resistance to dominant politics and ideologies. And, as the artist, in many ways, works as an interpreter of the book, so will the viewer of the work.

The experience of readingis deeply personal, whether approached with anticipation, curiosity, or sometimes even with hesitation. Thus, the 'Reading Room' invites thereader ofthis spaceto carry with them the memory of this experience in a context created for encounter, discussion, and making meaning.

2014

Artists

Anne Covell
Bandana Tulachan
Banoo Batliboi
Ben Barbour
Deng-Yifu
Jagath Weeresinghe
Kingsley Gunatillake
Layla Gonaduwa
Liz Fernando
Madiha Sikander
Meera Devidayal
M. Abou El Naga
Preksha Tater
Rabindra Shrestha
Radhika Heetiarachi & Shanika Perera
Samanta Batra Mehta
Samit Das
Sarwagya Nenbang (Ubahang)
Satyanand Mohan
Smriti Choudhary
Tanmoy Samanta
Zach Stensen

Reading Room, Kochi Biennale

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