Proof you don’t need punctuation to be poignant.

I love all things avant-garde especially when people experiment with different mediums and forms of expression. Nina Katchadourian’s work is engaging and refreshing, she sorts through large collections of books until she finds titles that can be arranged to form a message.

Her project began in 1993 and now features over 130 works. She refers to them as ‘sequences’ rather than art or poetry, but many of the longer collections have musical rhythms and qualities. The project has taken her far and wide but her aim has always remained the same: ‘to examine that particular library’s focus, idiosyncrasies, and inconsistencies — a cross-section of that library’s holdings.’

A friend of mine said that while she appreciated the originality, the title of the project – Sorted Books – highlight’s its simplicity. But is there any difference in taking words from the spine of a book than taking them from your consciousness or the pages of a dictionary?

Time to go rummage through your collection…