Exhibition catalog for "(un)Contained Vessels"

Identifier:AAR.EC.0154

Creation dates:2011

contributor: Alexander Campos, Pamela Spitzmueller

Description:Catalog for "(un)Contained Vessels," an exhibition on view at the Center for Book Arts July 12 - September 15, 2007. Organized by Pamela Spitzmueller and Alexander Campos. CBA has two copies.

This exhibition examines the container not as merely a functional holding place, but as an integrated/activated part of the piece that is equally important and even enhances the art object it houses. Artworks featured in this exhibition represent a broad range of art containers that are more conceptually based and offer lyrical interpretations that challenge the traditional notion of the "box" (container).

People have been putting books in containers for centuries. Both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hamadi codices were found in lidded ceramic storage jars in desert caves. Ethiopic book containers protect their contents from desert dust with telescoping double cases and extra flaps. Book containers can also become inseparable from the book or can be the object itself.

Featured artists: Noriko Ambe, Alice Austin, Crystal Cawley, Macy Chadwick, Julie Chen, Ana Cordeiro, Evelyn Eller, Judith Emprechtinger, Anne Gilman, Josh Harris, Sun Young Kang, Kumi Korf, Guy Laramee, Barbara Mauriello, Susan Mills, Ken Montgomery, Bessie Smith Moulton, Shervone Neckles, Tara O'Brien, Amee J. Pollack, Michelle Raccagni, Rocco Scary, Miriam Schaer, Tennille Davis Shuster, Robbin Ami Silverberg, Gail Smuda, Laurie Spitz, Kim and Phillippe Villard, Micki Watanabe-Spiller, Sang-Mi Yoo, Liz Zanis.