Thread by @incunabula

A colossal hand-bound book, with no printing, no writing of any kind, no illustrations of any kind..... 908 pages of blank paper.

So why is Olafur Eliasson's "Your House" regarded as one of the most technically accomplished and influential artist's book of the 21st century? 1/9

Because of what's NOT there! It's the empty spaces cut out of the paper that make this book so remarkable. The subject is Eliasson’s house in Denmark, rendered in a vertical cross section through an elaborate laser die-cut process of each page. 2/9

The format of the book allows Eliasson the space to fully realize his idea on a scale of 85:1, so that each leaf corresponds to 2.2 centimeters of the actual house. 3/9

Eliasson summarizes the experience of viewing this book, "Reading a book is both a physical and a mental activity. It is like walking through a house, following the layout of the rooms with your body and mind: ...." 4/9

"..... the movement from one room to another, or from one part of the book to another, constitutes an experiential narrative that is physical and conscious at the same time." 5/9

It's a magical experience paging through the book, with the negative space of the house changing just fractionally from page to page, until you turn the page - and from one page to another - the image changes completely because your viewpoint has just moved through a wall. 6/9

"Your House" was commissioned from Olafur Eliasson by the MOMA Library Council, as part of the Contemporary Editions series at the Museum of Modern Art, in 2006. 225 copies were produced, most of which are now in institutional hands. 7/9

Born of Icelandic extraction in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1967, Olafur Eliasson lives and works in Copenhagen and Berlin, Germany. His work has been exhibited in many international venues, including the Tate Modern, London (2003), and the Menil Collection, Houston (2004). 8/9

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art organized a major retrospective of his work in 2007, which traveled to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, in 2008. 9/9

You can see a few more pics of "Your House" - and links to related works - on the artist's website here:
olafureliasson.net/archive/public…

Olafur Eliasson's studio made a very brief flip-through video exposition of "Your House", which you can see here: