Table-Book
2024
artist’s book
limited edition of 15
Ke Xu 许珂
Yue Zhou 周玥
DREAMER FTY 夢廠
250mm*300mm folded (1000mm*600mm fully unfold)
digital print on paper
artist’s book
limited edition of 15
Ke Xu 许珂
Yue Zhou 周玥
DREAMER FTY 夢廠
250mm*300mm folded (1000mm*600mm fully unfold)
digital print on paper
In 2021, Ke Xu and Yue Zhou started collaborating on Looking at Things to Know, a long-term art project based on observation. They select an everyday object and track multiple perceptual transformations through observation of the object. Among two-dimensional images, three-dimensional objects, and multi-dimensional senses, perception is communed with. Using the book as the medium, cognitive biases are presented, while ambiguities of images trigger individual and collective experiences. After their observations based on "glass" and "apple", "table" was chosen to be the third observed object.
Like a flat sheet of white paper, the tabletop waits for content to fill it and situations to occur across it. The Table-Book represents the transition between what is being used (the IKEA Table) and what is being read (the Book). The tabletop images included are taken from an overhead perspective, and the two sides of the paper are the two faces of the tabletop. When reading, the fully unfolded page fits the actual size of the tabletop (100x60cm), and the page folded is (as far as possible) close to the actual thickness of the tabletop (3cm).
The recommended reading height of this book is 74cm, the actual height of the IKEA table after fitting the legs. "Break a leg" is often used as a blessing before going on stage, implying a successful performance. In the book, the four legs of the table are converted into punch marks at four page corners. When the table legs are removed, it is time for the Table-Book to perform.
2021年，许珂和周玥合作展开了基于观察与凝视的长期艺术项目“格物致知”，每一辑将选定一个日常物件，在二维图像、三维物件、及多维感官之间追溯观看的多重转换，并以书为媒介，呈现从“观看”中习得的认知偏差，触发由个体或集体经验所生成的图像“歧义”。继基于“杯子”和“苹果”的观看后，“桌子”随之成为了第三个观察对象。
如同一张平摊开的白纸，桌面等待内容的填入与发生。《Table-Book》呈现正被使用的（宜家桌）与正被阅读的（此书）之间的转换。《Table-Book》所含桌面图像以俯摄视角拍摄，纸张正反指向桌面正反，页面完全展开等同于桌面实际尺寸100x60cm，页面完全折叠则（尽可能）逼近于桌板实际厚度3cm。
本书的建议阅读高度为74cm，即宜家桌装入桌腿的实际高度。“break a leg” 常在上场前作为一句祝福语，寓意演出成功。本被隐去的四条桌腿在书页上更迭成了四角的打孔痕迹，break all the legs 之时，也是《Table-Book》上演之际。