DIETER ROTH: BOOK T1 FACSIMILE (ltd. to 30 copies)

Zucker Art Books, 2022, First edition of 30 copies, 25 pp. (loose mylar sheets), 8 3/4" X 9", Folded black card cover with loose square die-cut color mylar and card stock sheets housed in printed slipcase

Fine

Roth’s serial project Book (1958-64) is comprised of over 30 interactive works that exemplify the precision of concrete aesthetics. Book t1 is one of the first created for this series, constructed of twenty-five sheets with hand-cut slots cut at angles. Each loose sheet is 19x19 cm. Fifteen of these are thick, transparent Mylar in red, blue, and yellow, and ten are heavy white stock. The original work is housed in a custom black case with author and title typed on the spine in black and red. The title page includes the artist’s signature, fingerprint, and date (October, 1959). This facsimile edition holds true to the original—hand-crafted in an edition of only 30 copies, and housed in a slipcase.

Book t1’s greatest intrigue is a singular experience created through the actions it invites: opening, touching, looking, flipping, layering, rotating, manipulating, arranging. Countless playful compositions are created by handling the work. Materiality and empty space serve as the content, and the reader creates dynamic activity between these. Elements confined to one page synthesize with individual elements, not only on the next page, but with several subsequent pages simultaneously. The resultant effect of handing Book t1 underscores the conceptual notion that reading should not be a passive act, but rather a creative one.

Numbered edition of 30