Book-objects: Bookness and artmaking 

From early illuminated manuscripts to the tradition of editorial design, words and images have long found in the book a locus for creative encounters. In the 20th century, however, a different kind of phenomenon emerged: the global boom of the book-object. Defined by Italian art historian and artist Mirella Bentivoglio as “plastic-poetic expressions” that move beyond language by merging materiality, colour, shapes and words, book-objects are sculptural works that explore bookness.

While the wider idea of book art has been explored curatorially—most recently at the Warburg Institute—as well as addressed in some academic texts, particularly in the late 20th century through historicized accounts, the subject has yet to receive the depth of scholarly attention it deserves (Liberty 2023, Paton 2012, Stewart 2011, Drucker 2004). This panel is interested in research that approaches bookness both materially and theoretically, focusing on books as a sculptural space and as a creative object. An emphasis on the objecthood of books as artworks will be prioritised over reflections on the relationship between text and image or of a typographical nature.

I encourage the submission of papers exploring the following questions: Why did artists, especially in the 20th century, increasingly find in books a creative outlet for their sculptural work? What happens to writing and reading when bookmaking becomes a sculptural form? Which aspects of bookness do these works reject or embrace? How do they problematize our understanding of books? And what questions do they raise about the epistemological and ontological dimensions of artmaking and bookness?

Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:

Giulia Schirripa, University of York, giulia.schirripa@york.ac.uk