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.
a collaboration between Ke Xu 许珂 and Yue Zhou 周玥
published by DREAMER FTY 夢廠
2024
artist’s book
limited edition of 15
250mm*300mm folded
(1000mm*600mm fully unfold)
digital print on paper
