Intervention' From Right to Left'. Nastaran Samii. 9th -18th December 2011

I have converted the book to be opened from right side of the book instead of left side, as this is the way we open books in my culture.Consequently the reader must read from the right-page to the left-page ( first the page right and then the page left), however the text is in the left to right format.

De-construction in progress... Helen Frank

The box (nor the words written inside it) can not protect the book, rather the box has invited it's own destruction by becoming part of the book and fit for intervention.

The box was shredded and turned into paper.

The mass of the box has made one thick page which has been drawn on. This new page mimics one of the inside pages

The new page is currently seperated from the book.

Intervention 'Red Thread Through the Book', Silvia Champion, 1st - 8th Dec. 2011

I was interested in using the book and its words as material rather than working with the content. My original idea before I had the book was to change the shape of it by cutting into it in such a way that I can knit/knot the paper together and let a new shape grow out of the inside of the book. The interactions the book had already received prevented this.

Once I looked through the book I decided to interact directly with somebody else's interaction; communicating with it. I felt that because of all the interruptions and cuts already made, the book needed something to reconnect it. So I put a red thread through the book, connecting all the pages together. I like the connotations I found regarding the word 'thread' and how they relate to what I did with the book. For example:


the thread of an argument/ideas - connection linking them together
threads of something - various parts of it
to thread through it - to move through it
life/survival/success can hang by a thread - a delicate situation


Starting at the beginning, I put the thread through Madeleine's punched holes always using the closest  one on the opposite page to the one the thread across the book and at other times it is a short straight line depending where the next punch hole was. I stuck the thread down so when you turn the page a few more pages automatically stand up ready to flip over. This determines the way you urn the page and gives movement to a normally static object. In addition I chose a red thread that would give the paleness of the book a splash of colour.

Intervention 4 - Rachel Smith. 16 - 23 November 2011

In preparation for my intervention, I went to the Hallam Library in order to get a sneak preview of the book, in order to allow myself time to interact with the text. The edition I acquired was larger than the book we were using for our collaborative intervention. This led me to consider each edition in comparison to the other. I wanted to somehow connect the 2 volumes by my intervention.

I felt suprised by my way of working as I had planned to do something different to what I ended up doing, however by taking the book from the library this totally changed my reaction which was more spontaneous.
I only worked with pages in the book that were different from the copy I had taken from the library.

The cover is a tracing of the edition I loaned, but the size relates to the copy the group were working on. When tracing the title of the book, within the restricted size, I felt happy that there only remained the word Symbol, as Lou had removed the words symbolic and images. However to trace off the word Images would have meant putting that word back in. This lead to my decision of tracing with tippex; so technically the word has still been removed, with the same material Lou used but just so accurately it is still readable.

The drawn tracings are the illustrations put into the same places as in the version I worked with, tracing the fragment which fits within the size constraints. Each tracing is 60 seconds worth of drawing which reflects the segmented hourly structure of my work life and the restricted time I feel I have to dedicate to my own practice. The overlapping nature of the drawings gives a suggestion of what could be there and the tracings are done on both sides of the paper.

I am interested in how the added illustration pages interact with the cut pages. I also added pencil corrections to the illustration index so as to leave a clue as to how they appear in other editionsand how many illustrations are in each cluster.

Intervention3 Book in a Box Eva Budweg 1st November

The idea to pass a book around seemed interesting and challenging at the same time. After spending a couple of days with the book I was not sure how to feel about it. People did not just add to the book they also destroyed it in a certain way. Some parts are not readable, the pages are cut into and if one would not know the title, they could not recognize it.

There was a book, by “adding” or “doing” something to the book it changed its character. Its up to the viewer to decide if it got destroyed or was made to be a unique object.

One could argue either side.

However, I felt that it was necessary to protect the book. I know that this was an impossible task, so I decided to put the book in a box. In the box I wrote something, a section from the Bible. The Bible is just as confusing and interesting as this project, so is the particular section.

I am being aware of the fact that the book will not stay protected by the box it is in.

Intervention 2 Madeleine Walton 12th - 19th October 2011

Continuing with Lou's theme of removal using the hole-punch as my tool I removed as many 'o' letters and zeros I could find. This was difficult as the hole-punch itself is constraining as it has limited reach into the page. 
After removing as many as I could remove throughout the book I had a huge pile. I then sorted through the words, numbers and letters, remembering that there are two sides to the paper so I always had a choice.I found that I had many full words: 'of','to, 'on' - some thirty of each and I went through the book using my medium glue to stick these over the matching words in the text. 
I also had partial fragments of words 'ould', 'ore', 'ough', 'ener' and found words containing these letters and glued them over.
Then I started altering words, so 'pig' became 'peck', 'sun' became 'sin', 'but' became 'hut' and this in turn completely changed the sense of the text giving sentences like "It shows a sun behind clouds" becomes "it shows a sin behind clouds" and "What needs to be added to Cicero's account" becomes "Salt needs to be added to Cicero's account". 
For the next stage I created new words. "The Age of Reason" became "The Age of Reasone", 'Louvre' became 'Loova', 'Venus' became 'Voyus'.
When I came across 'symobolic images' that Lou had underlined but overlooked I altered those words so they made no sense.
I replaced as many zeros as I could with blanks. I then altered numbers '100' became '1000' etc.
Italian text is used in the book and I substituted Italian words for English and visa versa.
When I finally got to the images in the appendix my own creativity takesover.
As I moved through the book I became less careful with letting the glue dry before turning the page as pages began to get stuck together.

The whole process was obsessive and compulsive. I was continually adding what I had subtracted and in the process leaving my trace. Every page has at least one intervention. The feel of the page is no longer smooth due to my interventions.

Intervention 1 Lou Hazelwood 5th October 2011 - 12th October 2011

All Symbolic Images have been removed. I have removed all repetitions of these two words from the book. This statement 'All symbolic images have been removed' is bold. It also can refer to a double meaning, Does this then create some intrigue?

This process has been an obsessive task definitely not a  therapeutic one.

At points I found myself 'getting lost' in the text rather than the task; a mantra enabled me to re-focus 'symbolic images, symbolic images, symbolic images'.

Tippex, liquid for the cover, roller dry strips for the convenience and time constraints for inside, was used to remove all symbolic images. Removing the title and all its repetitions of these words throughout the book, I was surprised at how few symbolic images there were. Somehow there was an expectation that the book would be full of symbolic images and maybe it is  but these weren't evident in its repetitions of these particular words, as its bold statement (title) led me to believe.

Leaving torn markers (yellow post it notes), initially a reminder of where the symbolic images were circled in pencil, are now directing you towards the tippex-ed words. Deliberately marking the intervention, there is no room for subtlety to be present. They have created almost a 'hair-do' for the book and I have a fantasy that someone will 'topiary' them.

Of course there is power in being the first to intervene with the book but I have not regarded this as a responsibility. Therefore no thought has been given to how this may impact on others interventions, whether it will hinder, help or be of no consequence remains to be see.

How it all began