Aastanäitus „Peidus pool. Käsitöököitest masintoodanguni“

TÜ raamatukogu näitusesaalis 24.03.2023–18.06.2023

Abstract

Exhibition „The Hidden Side. From Hand-made Bindings to Machine Production”

The description of bookbindings in the history of bindings has largely been design-oriented. In this exhibition, we put more emphasis on how the binding is structured and how it has developed over time. We were interested in how the book went from hand-made to machine-produced bindings and what changes accompanied the process. We decided to use the timeline step of a couple of centuries, and supported it with sample volumes from library collections. The viewers may have been surprised that we displayed volumes that were not fully repaired or intact, but this was a great opportunity to show the hidden side of the book’s structure. It might also have been unexpected that, in order to focus on the form of the volume and not on its content, we did not add brief publication details about the exhibited books. In order to give the viewer the opportunity to experience the book as a physical object through different senses, we showed models of bindings, generalised by the time step, for the viewers to browse, and offered information about courses for learning simpler binding methods.

If someone asked what was the most difficult part of putting together this exhibition, for me it was the drawing up of a model that would best characterise the changes that took place over the course of a century. You can include several different versions when composing a text, but it is impossible to do two different things at the same place at the same time when making a physical object. Looking back at the exhibition, I was pleasantly surprised by the popularity of the binding courses. The opinion that the masters do the work and others watch respectfully from a distance does not hold any more. At present, people really like to be able to make something with their hands, and we had the pleasure of giving them the opportunity.