Brian Dettmer: Old books reborn as intricate art

Prevodilac: Anja Saric Lektor: Mile Živković

I'm an artist and I cut books.

Ja sam umetnik i ja sečem knjige.

This is one of my first book works.

Ovo je jedan od mojih prvih radova sa knjigama.

It's called "Alternate Route to Knowledge."

Zove se "Alternativni put ka znanju".

I wanted to create a stack of books so that somebody could come into the gallery

Želeo sam da stvorim gomilu knjiga tako da kada neko uđe u galeriju

and think they're just looking at a regular stack of books,

i misli da samo gleda u običnu gomilu knjiga

but then as they got closer they would see this rough hole carved into it,

kada priđe bliže, vidi ovu grubu rupu urezanu u nju

and wonder what was happening, wonder why,

i zapita se šta se događa i zbog čega

and think about the material of the book.

i razmisli o materijalu knjige.

So I'm interested in the texture,

Dakle, mene zanima tekstura,

but I'm more interested in the text and the images that we find within books.

ali me više interesuju tekst i slike koje se nalaze u knjigama.

In most of my work, what I do is I seal the edges of a book with a thick varnish

U većini svojih radova, pričvrstim krajeve knjige debelim slojem laka

so it's creating sort of a skin on the outside of the book

tako da se stvori koža sa spoljne strane knjige

so it becomes a solid material, but then the pages inside are still loose,

i postane čvrst materijal, a stranice unutra su i dalje labave,

and then I carve into the surface of the book,

i onda režem u unutrašnjost knjige

and I'm not moving or adding anything.

i ne pomeram niti dodajem bilo šta.

I'm just carving around whatever I find interesting.

Samo režem oko bilo čega što mi se učini interesantnim.

So everything you see within the finished piece

Dakle, sve što vidite u gotovom delu

is exactly where it was in the book before I began.

je tačno gde je bilo u knjizi na početku.

I think of my work as sort of a remix, in a way,

O svom radu mislim kao o nekom remiksu, na neki način,

because I'm working with somebody else's material

jer radim sa tuđim materijalom

in the same way that a D.J. might be working with somebody else's music.

na isti način na koji didžej radi sa tuđom muzikom.

This was a book of Raphael paintings, the Renaissance artist,

Ovo je bila knjiga posvećena slikama Rafaela, renesansnog umetnika,

and by taking his work and remixing it, carving into it,

i uzimajući njegov rad, remiksujući ga, rezbareći ga,

I'm sort of making it into something that's more new and more contemporary.

činim ga nečim novijim i savremenijim.

I'm thinking also about breaking out of the box of the traditional book

Takođe razmišljam da proširim svoje delo iz tradicionalne knjige

and pushing that linear format,

i da proguram linerani format,

and try to push the structure of the book itself

i strukturu same knjige

so that the book can become fully sculptural.

tako da knjiga može u potpunosti da postane skulptura.

I'm using clamps and ropes and all sorts of materials, weights,

Koristim stege i kanape i sve vrste materijala, tegove

in order to hold things in place before I varnish

kako bi stvari stajale na mestu pre nego što ih prelakiram,

so that I can push the form before I begin,

kako bih mogao da poguram formu pre nego što počnem,

so that something like this can become a piece like this,

tako da nešto poput ovoga može postati delo poput ovoga

which is just made from a single dictionary.

koje je napravljeno od jednog rečnika.

Or something like this can become a piece like this.

Ili nešto poput ovoga može postati delo poput ovoga.

Or something like this,

Ili nešto kao ovo,

which who knows what that's going to be or why that's in my studio,

za koje niko ne zna šta će od njega ispasti, ili zašto je u mom studiju,

will become a piece like this.

može postati delo poput ovoga.

So I think one of the reasons people are disturbed by destroying books,

Tako da mislim da je jedan od razloga zašto ljude uznemiruje uništavanje knjiga

people don't want to rip books

zašto ljudi ne žele da cepaju knjige

and nobody really wants to throw away a book,

i niko zapravo ne želi da baci knjigu

is that we think about books as living things,

taj da mi mislimo o knjigama kao o živim stvarima,

we think about them as a body,

mislimo o njima kao o telima,

and they're created to relate to our body, as far as scale,

i one su stvorene da se povežu sa našim telima što se dimenzije tiče

but they also have the potential to continue to grow

ali one takođe imaju potencijal da nastave da rastu

and to continue to become new things.

i da postanu nove stvari.

So books really are alive.

Dakle, knjige su zaista žive.

So I think of the book as a body,

Ja o knjigama razmišljam kao o telu,

and I think of the book as a technology.

i knjigu vidim kao tehnologiju.

I think of the book as a tool.

Vidim knjigu kao alatku.

And I also think of the book as a machine.

A vidim je i kao mašinu.

I also think of the book as a landscape.

A takođe i kao pejzaž.

This is a full set of encyclopedias that's been connected and sanded together,

Ovo je ceo set enciklopedija koje su spojene i išmirglane zajedno,

and as I carve through it,

i kako ih rezbarim

I'm deciding what I want to choose.

odlučujem šta želim da izaberem.

So with encyclopedias, I could have chosen anything,

Sa enciklopedijama mogao sam da izaberem bilo šta

but I specifically chose images of landscapes.

ali sam posebno izabrao slike pejzaža.

And with the material itself, I'm using sandpaper

Sa samim materijalom, koristim šmirglu

and sanding the edges so not only the images suggest landscape,

i šmirglam krajeve, tako da nisu samo slike te koje sugerišu na pejzaž

but the material itself suggests a landscape as well.

nego i sam materijal sugeriše na pejzaž.

So one of the things I do is when I'm carving through the book,

Jedna stvar koju radim kad rezbarim knjigu

I'm thinking about images, but I'm also thinking about text,

je ta da razmišljam o slikama, ali i o tekstu

and I think about them in a very similar way,

i o njima razmišljam na veoma sličan način

because what's interesting is that when we're reading text,

jer je interesantno to da dok čitamo tekst,

when we're reading a book,

dok čitamo knjigu,

it puts images in our head,

stvaramo slike u glavi

so we're sort of filling that piece.

tako da na neki način dopunjujemo to delo.

We're sort of creating images when we're reading text,

Stvaramo slike dok čitamo tekst,

and when we're looking at an image, we actually use language

i dok gledamo sliku, mi zapravo korisitimo jezik

in order to understand what we're looking at.

kako bismo razumeli u šta gledamo.

So there's sort of a yin-yang that happens,

Tako da se dešava neka vrsta jing-janga,

sort of a flip flop.

neki flip-flop.

So I'm creating a piece that the viewer is completing themselves.

Ja kreiram delo koje posmatrač sam dovršava.

And I think of my work as almost an archaeology.

O svom radu mislim skoro kao o arheologiji.

I'm excavating and I'm trying to maximize the potential

Iskopavam i pokušavam da povećam potencijal do maksimuma

and discover as much as I possibly can

i otkrijem što je moguće više

and exposing it within my own work.

i izložim ga kroz svoj rad.

But at the same time,

Ali u isto vreme

I'm thinking about this idea of erasure,

razmišljam o ideji brisanja

and what's happening now that most of our information is intangible,

i o tome što se sada događa da je većina naših informacija neopipljiva,

and this idea of loss,

i ta ideja o gubitku,

and this idea that not only is the format constantly shifting within computers,

i ideja da nije samo format ono što se konstantno menja sa kompjuterima,

but the information itself,

nego i sama informacija,

now that we don't have a physical backup,

i sada kad nemamo fizičku rezervu podataka,

has to be constantly updated in order to not lose it.

moramo je stalno ažurirati kako je ne bismo izgubili.

And I have several dictionaries in my own studio,

I ja sam imam nekoliko rečnika u svom studiju,

and I do use a computer every day,

i kompjuter koristim svakodnevno,

and if I need to look up a word, I'll go on the computer,

i ako treba da potražim reč, otići ću za kompjuter

because I can go directly and instantly to what I'm looking up.

jer mogu u trenutku direknto da pogledam ono što tražim.

I think that the book was never really

I mislim da knjiga nikada zapravo

the right format for nonlinear information,

nije bila pravi format za nelinearne informacije,

which is why we're seeing reference books

i zbog toga referentne knjige

becoming the first to be endangered or extinct.

prve postaju ugrožene i izumrle vrste.

So I don't think that the book will ever really die.

Ja ne mislim da će knjige ikada izumreti.

People think that now that we have digital technology,

Ljudi misle da će sada kada imamo digitalnu tehnologiju

the book is going to die,

knjige izumreti,

and we are seeing things shifting and things evolving.

i vidimo kako se stvari menjaju i razvijaju.

I think that the book will evolve,

Mislim da će se knjiga razviti,

and just like people said painting would die

i baš kao što su rekli da će slikarstvo izumreti

when photography and printmaking became everyday materials,

kada su fotografija i štampa postali svakodnevni materijali,

but what it really allowed painting to do

ali šta se zapravo dogodilo je da

was it allowed painting to quit its day job.

je dozvolilo slikarstvu da napusti svoj dnevni posao.

It allowed painting to not have to have that everyday chore of telling the story,

Dozvololilo je slikarstvu da prestane da obavlja svakodnevni posao pričanja priče,

i slikarstvo je postalo oslobođeno i konačno je moglo da ispriča svoju priču

and painting became free and was allowed to tell its own story,

and that's when we saw Modernism emerge,

i tada je iskrsnuo modernizam,

and we saw painting go into different branches.

i videli smo kako se slikarstvo razvija na više grana.

And I think that's what's happening with books now,

I mislim da je to ono što se sada događa sa knjigama,

now that most of our technology, most of our information,

sada je kada većina naše tehnologije, većina naših informacija,

most of our personal and cultural records are in digital form,

većina naših privatnih i društvenih zapisa u digitalnom formatu,

I think it's really allowing the book to become something new.

mislim da to zaista dozvoljava knjigama da postanu nešto novo.

So I think it's a very exciting time for an artist like me,

Mislim da je ovo izuzetno uzbudljivo vreme za umetnika poput mene,

and it's very exciting to see what will happen with the book in the future.

i jako je uzbudljivo videti šta će se u budućnosti desiti sa knjigama.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)