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"TO READ THAT WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN WRITTEN"
PRESS RELEASE
September 10, 2020 – October 30, 2020
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Brandon McKinley, Public Relations and Partnerships Specialist
College of the Arts, University of Florida
Office: 352.273.1489
bmckinley@arts.ufl.edu
Gainesville, Fla. —
“To read that which has never been written”
Books from the Marjorie S. Coffey Artists’ Book Collection, part of the Special and Area Studies Rare Book Collections at The University of Florida
Constance and Linton Grinter Gallery of International Art
September 10th to October 30th, 2020
“To read that which has never been written”, is an artist’s books exhibition organized by the University Galleries to be held at the Grinter Gallery of International Art. It has been organized in collaboration with Ellen Knudson, Associate in Book Arts at The University of Florida where she holds a joint position between the Special and Area Studies Collections Libraries and the School of Art and Art History. Grad Assistant Brie Rosenbloom has been in charge of the coordination.
This exhibition is focused on artists’ books that deal with the relationship between image and text in a way that both transform each other, blurring the limits between them. The title for the exhibition “To read that which has never been written” is a quote that comes from Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben book “The signature of all things: on method.” According to Agamben, signatura is “not just not about signs, it's not about anything that has ever been written. Rather, it would seem that, in Hofmannsthal's deep image, men in heaven learned, perhaps for the first time, to «read that which has never been written». But this means that the signature is the place where the gesture of reading and the gesture of writing invert their relationship and enter a zone of undecidability. Reading here becomes writing and writing is dissolved entirely in reading..."
This selection of artists’ books was based on this Agamben’s idea of the signaturas. Thus, our criteria to select the books in the exhibition reflects this historically upsetting relationship, this difficulty to see what came first, if it was the image or the text.
There are twenty-two books in exhibition by the widely recognized artists such as Ronald King, Amelia R. Bird, Damara Kaminecki, Romano Hänni, Jaime Shafer, Sarah Bryant, Barbara Tetenbaum, Julie Chen, Elizabeth Pendergrass & John Hastings, Jessica White, Joanna Ruocco, Philip Zimmermann, Stephanie Wolff, Radha Pandey, Ellen Knudson and Emily Martin, among others.
UG is grateful to Lourdes Santamaría-Wheeler, Exhibits Director at the George A. Smathers Libraries of the University of Florida, for her support in the organization of this exhibition.
About University Galleries
University Galleries is comprised of three art galleries that play an integral role in the teaching mission of the School of Art + Art History, College of the Arts at the University of Florida, as well as serving the entire UF and Gainesville community.
University Gallery (UG) UG’s primary mission is to provide the greater Gainesville community with a contemporary venue that explores new directions in visual art, incorporating historical perspectives as well. UG collaborates with myriad UF colleges, community and regional entities in creating a trans-disciplinary venue for artwork that is relevant to education at UF, and the greater north-central Florida region. Exhibitions feature nationally/internationally known artists, a studio art faculty exhibition, and MFA graduating thesis project exhibitions.
Gary R. Libby Gallery presents art exhibitions that are organized by graduate student curators, in conjunction with the director of the galleries, providing an opportunity for students to learn experientially about curation, exhibition design, and presentation, and visitors to view professionally presented shows that primarily feature contemporary art.
Constance and Linton Grinter Gallery of International Art presents exhibitions organized by graduate student curators, in conjunction with the director of the galleries that feature international and multicultural artworks. This venue allows graduate students to learn experientially about curation and exhibition design, and visitors to experience art and artifacts from across world cultures.
Parking Information
Daytime parking is available in reserved spaces between Fine Arts Building C (FAC) and Inner Road. From SW 13th Street, enter campus on Museum Drive. Turn right on Newell Drive, then right on Inner Road. Turn left into the parking lot behind FAC. The first three spaces on the left are reserved for gallery use. Parking permits are issued to gallery visitors in the University Gallery.
For more information, please contact the University Gallery at (352) 273-3000 or visit our website at www.arts.ufl.edu/galleries.
About the College of the Arts
The College of the Arts is one of the 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The College of the Arts offers baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its three institutionally-accredited schools — the School of Art + Art History, School of Music and School of Theatre + Dance. The college is home to the Center for Arts in Medicine, Center for Arts and Public Policy, Center for World Arts, Digital Worlds Institute, University Galleries and the New World School of the Arts in Miami. More than 100 faculty members and approximately than 1,200 students work together daily to engage, inspire and create. The college hosts more than 300 performances, exhibitions and events each year. Faculty and students also exhibit and perform at other local, national and international venues. To learn more, visit www.arts.ufl.edu.
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