Semester Overview of class_topics Category

Letterpress Documentary

We'll start with a short video.
The prop used in this skit is clearly printed, but we'll ignore that and instead focus on the question that arises at the end of the skit. The monk cannot interpret the use of a codex except through the technology he's familiar with (the scroll), and the tech-savvy book specialist has a hard time thinking of text from the perspective of a newbie. (So do we, which is why we laugh at this monk's struggles.)

Here's a kid who has beautiful handwriting. How does this news reporter portray the child? What do the visuals, the quotes, and the context add up to represent?

 

Taylor Mali also wrote (and performed) the equally masterful "What Teachers Make."

The book is technology. The book is art. The book is as artificial as a Facebook profile. People have died for books.

Adobe Bookshop art project by Chris Cobb.