The University Galleries at the University of Florida presents Vico’s Spiral: Half a Century of Artists’ Books, curated by Robbin Ami Silverberg and Carole Naggar.

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Originating at the Center for Book Arts in New York in 2024 to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the exhibition provides a unique opportunity to appreciate, examine, and reflect on the recent history of the artist's book.

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Vico’s Spiral includes a thoughtful selection of historical and contemporary works, referential documents, and related memorabilia which echo the unique immanent hybridity of this centuries old practice, emblematic for fluently incorporating the contradictions and paradoxes between the new and the old, the traditional and the experimental, the radical and the conversative, and the political and the aesthetics - all within one’s own reach.

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According to curator Silverberg, the exhibition was “curated using the rubric of Vico’s Spiral, a nonlinear conception of history developed by Giambattista Vico (1668– 1744), an Italian historian, political philosopher, and jurist, credited with founding the philosophy of history. Vico argued that ‘distinct periods of history can have identical or similar general characteristics; therefore, we can discuss them using an analogy’ and that history’s tendency ‘to repeat itself’ resembled the movement of a spiral or helix. Structured after Vico’s Spiral, the exhibition pairs books created in different decades yet concerned with similar themes or questions.”

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Seventy-seven artists, including collectives, individual members, and ephemera authors, are participating in the exhibition, including widely recognized artists such as Tauba Auerbach, Bruno Munari, John Lathan, Bruce Nauman, and Liliana Porter.

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This exhibition is possible thanks to the generosity of the Center for Book Arts, its Director’s Corina Reynolds and staff, the curators, and our exhibition coordinator Kayli Ricther, the installation manager Mario Mutis, the installation assistant Tabatha Seiter, and the grad assistants Elise Goosen, Kyle Christiana, and Azariah Rodriguez. Additional assistance provided by Rokheyatou "Roxie" Faye, Jiwon Seo, and Kodie Mahone.

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We are thankful to Dianne Caple, Brian Caple, Colleen Rua, and Dr. Elizabeth Ross for their vital support.