The adaptation of Thomas Fuller’s phrase “A book that is shut is but a block” in the previous bookshelves installation was illustrated by my use of the book for their shape and colour, rather than content; as it is, Muller-Brockmann orange grid book is only interesting for its vermilion a4 shape.

Building up the letters also reminded me very much of typesetting, as every type made of colored books had to be blocked with white books, just as it is done in letterpress, where large areas of white space are created by wooden blocks called furniture.

A book that is shut is but a block.

I thought of this experiment as a tautology: shut books that are therefore just blocks used to talk about the fact that shut books are just blocks.

Medium of the day: Scanner+ fully lined household rubber gloves.