Books as art: new exhibition set to intrigue and delight

This weekend, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery will take the wraps off its latest feature exhibition, Unbound: Books Reimagined.

Celebrating the book as an artform that takes many shapes and covers many themes, Unbound: Books Reimagined challenges the perception of what we understand a book to be. 

The exhibition features exquisite examples of two types of books: artists' books and pop-up books. 

Artists' books are works of art that utilise the book form and include altered, animated, concertina, illustrated and sculptural books. They come in all kinds of shapes, sizes and materials. 

Pop-up books use three-dimensional features activated by pull tabs, tunnels or flaps – or simply by opening a page. Examples in the exhibition cover animals and creatures, history and geography, literature and fiction, science, technology and space, and even TV and movies – each rendered into intricate and inventive dioramas. 

General Manager, Creative Arts and Cultural Services Shane Fitzgerald said Unbound: Books Reimagined features 113 rare and remarkable works guaranteed to delight local, interstate and international audiences.

“QVMAG is proud to bring together an incredible selection of artists’ books and pop-up books from Artspace Mackay in Queensland, the State Library of Queensland, private collections around Tasmania and Australia and our institution’s own library here at the Museum at Inveresk,” said Fitzgerald.

From a book containing a tiny ghost ship to a large-scale work inspired by the 2019 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria and a pop-up book featuring scenes from the popular TV series Stranger Things, Unbound: Books Reimagined is full of surprises. 

QVMAG Librarian and Archivist and co-curator of the exhibition, Andrew Parsons, described the collection of artists’ books and pop-up books as exquisite, enthralling and impossible to categorise.

“From the tiniest miniature book to very large pieces, each item we have in this exhibition is absolutely intriguing. Once people see them, they will be hooked,” he said.

“Visitors will not only appreciate the artistic intent and creativity, but also the engineering marvels that go into these books.”

In addition to the physical works, a digital page-turning experience will allow visitors to see ‘inside’ some of the books on display as part of the exhibition.

Unbound: Books Reimagined is open from 5 October 2024 until 2 February 2025 at the Museum at Inveresk and entry is free.

Issued 4 October 2024.