Unfolding Carte d'Identité

Abstract

When reading the complex artist’s book Carte d’identité (2017) by Patrizia Meinert the reader is invited to participate in the book: to unfold pages and connect words with zones of the body. This participation establishes a tangible relationship between the reader and the book, which extends to the artist herself through the map that carries an imprint of her body. This relationship is enforced by medium specific elements of the medium book, such as text, structural and material elements, which furthermore influence the reader’s perception of the book. In order to explore the relation between the exploration of the medium book and its reading practice the following research question is answered in this thesis: How does Patrizia Meinerts’ exploration of elements from the book medium in her artist’s book Carte d’identité (2017) influence its reading practice? In order to answer this question elements of text, materiality and structure are analyzed, whereafter their implications for the reading experience are unfolded.