_

Action/Interaction’s first keynote speaker, Audrey Niffenegger, is known among book artists for her hand-colored etchings with aquatint that make for fictions of mostly pictures. Since the publication of a bestseller, The Time Traveler’s Wife (2004), Niffenegger has become better known as a novelist. Nifenegger spoke to the differences between her projects of pure writing versus predominately image-based books, such as The Three Incestuous Sisters: An Illustrated Novel (2005), which was published by Harry N. Abrams Inc. in a much larger edition than viable using hand-printed methods. Niffenegger also reported she is embarking on a serial for the United Kingdom’s Guardian Unlimited newspaper as well as reading screenwriters’ disputable attempts to adapt The Time Traveler’s Wife for an upcoming feature film. Niffenegger is a case in point for the conference’s parallel discussion session, “Artists’ Books and Mainstream Publication,” lead by Jen Blair of Columbia College Chicago. Blair and those present contended over decisions faced by book artists pursuant to attention from major publishers. Tactics for improving artists’ books distribution, profitability, and the Internet’s potential for opening up new audiences were also debated.

The potential for linking to new audiences was at the core of questions in another parallel session, “Considering Artists’ Books Online,” moderated by Amanda D’Amico and Phoebe Esmon of University of the Arts (UArts) in Philadelphia. The moderators questioned the general functionality of the in-progress Web site. Johanna Drucker, founder of Artists’ Books Online, was in attendance for the discussion and positioned the project as an archive providing access to certain books in their entirety, rather than simply an aid for locating artists’ books or an advocate for the medium. D’Amico and Esmon stimulated their discussion by picking apart Artists’ Books Online’s metadata fields and glossary.

Terminology remains a central point of departure as evident from the session “Shaping a New Critical Discourse for the Field,” lead by Mary Tasillo of UArts, as well as “Beyond Artifacts: Book Arts as Practice,” lead by Andrew Eason of University of West England. In yet another parallel discussion session, “Crossing Boundaries: New Conceptions for the Book,” moderator Jonathan Lill’s (Museum of Modern Art Archives) approach was to phenomenologically compare artists’ books to other media like architecture and monumental sculpture in a lively philosophical debate.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Even more energetic was Marshall Weber’s keynote address directed primarily at students whose attention he captured by calling for revolt. Weber’s talk was inspired by the conference moniker of “Action” as well as its locale, Chicago–historically known for student protest and uprisings against the city’s infamous one-party politics. Weber provided a brief history of Chicago’s revolutionary past including violent unrest surrounding the 1968 Democratic convention and the “Days of Rage” in the fall of 1969. His talk featured such social groups as the Students for a Democratic Society turned the Weathermen Underground, the Black Panthers, and the Chicago Seven, including Abbie Hoffman. Though only indirectly related to books, Weber’s history was supported by examples of Columbia College Chicago student Drew Mattot’s public work wherein he asked sidewalk passersby to make a paper pulp portrait of President George W. Bush. For his part, Weber invoked the aggressively playful spirit of Hoffman later that evening during the conference’s open mic night. In the ironically jingoistic fourth section of his performance, the shirtless Weber sat with his profile facing the audience while erotically rubbing his crotch until an American flag protruded from his pants like an erect penis.

A performance such as Weber’s, along with the multimedia readings by Preacher’s Biscuit Books (of which this author is co-publisher), demonstrates the potential for a wide-range of voices in the book medium. The parallel discussion session, “Artists Book and Contemporary Art,” lead by Katie Baldwin, Lindsey Mears, and Katie Murken of Tango Book Arts, framed a conversation around the idea that books have characteristics such as “visual language,” “interactivity,” “containment,” and “temporality” that correlate to other media prominent in contemporary art and society. The group offered suggestions for how we may see electronic media, environmental works, and even standard communication devices such as cell phones with text messaging as book forms.