Book Design — 2666
In Roberto Bolano’s final book, 2666, the three-part story revolves around a string of serial killings in a Mexican border town where strangled women are buried in the desert and rarely discovered.
To re-interpret the story in the form of an altered book (Existencia), the construction was planned around the concept of being buried and hidden. In the book people are hidden, people are hiding from searching for the hidden, and people are hiding from themselves. With this in mind, the altered book is metaphorically buried and violated in the way a murderer would abuse a victim. The cover was torn off, a hole hacked in the middle and roughly tied back together using a rough large rope that blended with the torn pages. A mini-book representing the dead women was inserted, and then sandwiched together, screwed down with boards, and finished with a pile of earth on top that hides a secret lens where the viewer can peer at the cover of the mini-book, all set on a concrete slab. The murders take place in the desert and the visceral environment constructed by the author is infused with a cold gray atmosphere. Stained concrete ditches, broken slabs in abandon factories and roughly constructed shacks are scenes evoked by using concrete. Rusted re-bar was added, jutting out the sides and provokes a violence that the viewer is forced to be conscious of to avoid injury.
Turning to the inside of the book, a small mini-book made up of faces constructed from the artist’s imagination was inserted. When opened they cascade out, giving the impression of ethereal souls falling out of a grave. Constructing the faces using the artist’s hand connects the artist to the story in an organic way that photographs would not. On the cover of the mini-book a collage of anatomical illustrations and torn pages from the book was created. Seen through the lens, the mini-book cover pulls the viewer in and creates interaction. On top of the lens is placed a pile of earth. The viewer is forced to move the earth out of the way to peer into the lens and see that there is something inside. The viewer has to take a risk to open the box and find what is hidden.
