HOW TO PEER THROUGH A WORMHOLE
HOW TO PEER THROUGH A WORMHOLE
EL LIBRO Y SUS TESTIGOS/THE BOOK AND ITS WITNESSES
An ongoing inquiry
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In 2014, I first visited the Biblioteca Francisco de Burgoa in Oaxaca, Mexico. The library preserves premodern texts, many of which, because of their provenance, happen to be marked by wormholes from ancient larval incursions. Instead of seeing the books as damaged, these books with their wormholes are compelling facts of matter: everything transforms. My first visit to the Burgoa Library resulted in the artist’s book exhibition in 2015: Materias: Matter and Subject Matter. A catalogue of that project can be accessed here.
To further explore wormholes in books, I have partnered with Carla Nappi to spend more time peering through —and thinking with— the wormholes. We will explore how the holes embody alliances, at once deliberate and accidental, between human authors and the larvae that metabolize the matter of books. The voids in the wormholes will guide us. And as we pay attention, over time we will develop a series of works utilizing a range of media and texts. This project will be an interpretive translation of the enchantments and potentials of reading with wormholes.
Dianna Frid wishes to acknowledge the significant support she received from the Canada Council for the Arts through a long-term project grant.
In 2023, She also received generous support from donors to 3AP through 3Arts (Chicago). Thank you! In 2020, Dianna Frid received a seed grant for this project from the University of Illinois at Chicago's Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research.
Unless otherwise noted, the premodern and early modern books that Frid photographed and filmed are housed in the collection of the Biblioteca Fray Francisco de Burgoa, Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, Mexico. Dianna Frid wishes to thank the Burgoa staff for granting her access to the Burgoa's worm-holed holdings. Gracias.