CODEX 2009 Symposium
The second biennial CODEX Symposium, was scheduled from Monday February 9th through Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at the Berkeley Art Museum. Artists and writers presented their work and critical views in the atmosphere of a world class book fair and an old fashioned western rendez-vous.
We will soon be adding Video and audio recordings of the symposium.
The Speakers:
Karen Bleitz - "The Mechanical Word"
Born in California in 1973, Karen Bleitz has been creating book works in England since 1997. Her interactive and often sculptural books draw readers in by allowing them to alter or manipulate the page. Books with machines, pop-ups, and magnets become dynamic stages where the reader actively participates in debates around issues that range from the evolution of language to the role of gender and the body in communication. The transformations that take place within the pages force her readers to 're-view' and experience the subjects from a changed perspective. She is currently working on a new series of moving sculptures called the "Kinetic Portrait" series.
Antoine Coron - "Publishing Artists' Books in France"
Directeur de la Réserve des livres rares - Bibliothèque nationale de France
Ron King - artist, Circle Press - "Full Circle"
London
Clemens-Tobias Lange - CTL-Presse - "Onni Santi - All Saints - Discovering Inexisting Icons of Saints in Georgia."
Emily McVarish - "The Square"
Emily McVarish is a writer, designer, and book artist. She has operated her presses, Axel & Otto, in both commercial and experimental ventures since 1990. Her work is held by major museums and libraries, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s artist book collection, Harvard University’s Printing and Graphic Arts Collection, and the British Library’s American Collections. Recent shows include “Flicker/Be Still,” a solo exhibition of books and prints at 871 Fine Arts in San Francisco and “Complicit! Contemporary American Art and Mass Culture” at University of Virginia Art Museum.
Emily is also Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at California College of the Arts. In collaboration with Johanna Drucker, she has recently written and designed Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide published by Prentice Hall.
Tate Shaw - "The Placeholders"
Tate Shaw is the director of Visual Studies Workshop, a community of learning and interest in support of the media arts that is celebrating its 40th year in Rochester, New York. In addition, he is co-publisher of Preacher's Biscuit Books, also in Rochester. Shaw was a keynote presenter at the College Book Art Association in early 2009 and he coordinated the 10th Biennial Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair and Conference. His essays, interviews, reviews and reports on artists' books can be found in JAB (the Journal of Artists' Books) The Blue Notebook, and Afterimage: the journal of media arts and cultural criticism. Titles by Shaw can be found in many international private and public collections.
Lawrence Weschler - Writer, Artistic Director of the Chicago Humanities Festival