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for textual information? Already a large amount of non-fictional information such as
timetables, telephone books, catalogues and reference material is available in the often
more convenient electronic format as well as in print, the Encyclopaedia Britannica being a
prime example. Judging by the success of these projects and their obvious advantages of
easy searchability and adaptability, it can be easily imagined that most of this type of
factual information will soon have moved away from print. Experiments in hypertext
fiction and other forms of online literature continue this exploration into the area of
fiction and it is for this reason that hypertexts are worth observing in the context of
literary studies.
But what will happen to the book? What is the printed equivalent of abstract art? The
very self-conscious narratives ofpostmodemism indicate a high awareness ofthe process
of rethinking of the book form; artist books on the other hand, focus more on the
material. The author of the catalogue of an exhibition on the subject organised by the
British Council claims:
Most ofthe books in this exhibition are not what I'd think ofas good old-fashioned
books. They aren't really concerned with a linear communication of ideas at all.
Now that other media have to some extent supplemented (not supplanted) books
as far as message carrying goes, it's as ifbooks themselves feel their liberation from
havingto carry anything. In this situation, their only possible ally is art: art for art's
sake. (Exhibition catalogue)"
6.3: The Bookas CarrierofInformationanda SymbolofCulture
Artist Books represent a radical interpretation ofthis phase ofreorientation in which the
printed book finds itself, but also an indication ofthe possibilities which have opened up
through the developments in computer technology, not only to experiment with new
formats and contents in a new textual medium, but also the possibility of reconsidering
the old forms. As mentioned in the introduction, this situation is unique in the historyof
the printed book and allows a technology which has become almost natural and
transparent to be reconsidered. Artist books are an extreme example in that they focus
almost exclusively on the medium itself, denying all access to any content other than
their own 'opaque' self- reflection, they move away entirely from seeing the book as a
25 Artists' Bookworks, A BritishCouncil Exhihition (London: British Council, 1975).
Chapter 6 - page 217