Iconocopycity
114 laser copies, black and white, each 29.7 x 42 cm, 2011.
The book Iconocity is an example of one way of reading my archive. It can be defined as raw, unpolished, concrete, sculptural, black and white, and associatively adventurous. It depicts the whereabouts of architecture in all urban conditions, from its presentation to its demolition, and all the possible states of contemplation in between. The work ICONOCOPYCITY displays the entire copied spreads of the book, from the front cover to the back. This shows the linear order of the book, and the extensive architectural sections become readable in their graphic and rhythmic order. The spine, which emerges in the continuous grid on the wall, is the "restspace" of the photocopy frame. The meandering rhythm results from the alternating position of the book in each different line, left or right. In this way, the grid of the installed pages overrules the graphical grid of the way the pages are built. By presenting the spreads as one surface, completely different perspectives and readings are revealed. The overall survey of the entire book unravels the associative train of thought that it specially has been based on.
Artist's Bio:
Aglaia Konrad lives and works in Brussels. Her work started from photographically driven practice, with an interest in the urban phenomena of mega-cities since the beginning of the 1990s. By now it comprises videos, books, installations and a series of five 16mm films (on sculptural architecture). Her works have been represented in international group shows such as Documenta X (1997), Cities on the Move (1998–1999) and Talking Cities (2006).