Rodney Graham

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Les Dernières Merveilles de la Science (Die letzten Wunder der Wissenschaft), 1990
Buchobjekt, Schuber aus vernickeltem Messing, Glas, Spiegel
Sammlung Lucia Mu?oz Iglesias, Madrid, Photo: Michael Wagener

Rodney Graham often honours those authors that are important to him with a special apparatus for the presentation of their books. A widely read book in France around 1900 was Les Dernières Merveilles de la Science by Daniel Bellet, which was directed at young people. It explained the latest technical achievements in a vivid manner – the telephone, x-rays, electric light, the cinematograph, the gramophone and others besides. Lithographs illustrated the descriptions. Rodney Graham has invented a device made of glass and mirrors to view this book. It is put into a glass slipcase; hinges are used to add mirror flaps that can be opened and closed; the book is reflected in them in a wondrous way. But the multi-perspective reflections cannot hide the fact that the book remains closed. Its wonders are not brought to the light of day and disclosed.

Rodney Graham (born 1949) lives in Vancouver.