Middle finger to words

A book that's about to hit the market costs Rs 950 and has no text, but it's one the author and publishers hope you'll read. Fingerprint is Italian artist Andrea Anastasio's effort at turning a symbol of crime and surveillance, into a work of art. Interested?There is a black fingerprint on page 1. A pink one joins it on page 2. Three more on page 3, and yes, you guessed right four on page 4. The fingerprints increase in number, sometimes circling around each other, and at other times, overlapping. Andrea Anastasio's Fingerprint, a forthcoming title from Chennai publishers Tara Books, is a baffling publication.u00a0You flip through pages splattered with fingerprints, searching for words, and finding none. The Italian artist and designer struck on the idea after a visit to the US where he was fingerprinted by the airport immigration authorities.u00a0This moment both, banal and ominous stayed with him until it worked its way into his art. While it's true that the global scenario demands a different approach to security, we must realise that we are rapidly moving towards the Orwellian scenario that doesn't leave an individual feeling free and secure, Anatasio argues.The book, a visual fable, celebrates resistance to state surveillance and control. But will it really work for the lay reader? Tara Books editor and historian V Geetha, who has written the afterword to the book, says the work caught her fancy because Anastasio has managed to disassociate the fingerprint from its usual context, looking at what's used to separate undesirable citizens from desirable ones, criminals from law-abiding citizens, and aliens from natives, with fresh eyes.u00a0 Twenty four year-old freelance writer and avid reader Aashish Shakya believes the book is just an expensive paperweight. Why would he buy a book that has stuff school kids make at art class?u00a0R Sriram, former CEO of Crossword chain of bookstores, and co-founder, Next Practice Retail says he isn't surprised with Shakya's response because the book is aimed at a niche audience. Art lovers are sure to pick it up since Tara Books is known for their production quality. But a lay reader will find it hard to spend that much on a book with no text.For those of you Who just went, EH?Artist and Fingerprint writer Andrea Anastasio explains the idea behind the book What's the significance behind the colours?The colours stand for the five races in which human beings are classified. I've suggested white skin through pink since I wanted to introduce a humourous reference to the actual colour of white skin. What do you expect readers to take away from the book?I hope the reader gets involved with the visual dimension of the book, almost like playing with a toy. From browsing between pages, they will manage to find an independent way of reading the story, while keeping in mind a more political interpretation. I was experimenting with the idea of writing a story without using words. The rest is for the reader to find out.Will you buy it?It's revolutionary, but expensiveShrimi Sinha, 25, real estate consultantI like the way the artist has chosen to register his protest. It's revolutionary. I don't agree with fingerprinting surveillance and I want to support his voice. But it's too expensive.No, it's a costly paperweightAshish, Shakya, 24, freelance humour writerThe book is just an expensive paperweight. I'd never buy a book that has stuff school kids can make at art class.Fingerprints can't bracket identityAndrea makes interesting patterns with the fingerprint, by colouring it, showing how even one single fingerprint can actually end up being part of an incredible number of patterns. His art demonstrates how all attempts to bracket identity are self-defeating, for identities are not fixed, and they change in time, through association.Tara Books editor and historian V GeethaOther bizarre books30-kg Tendulkar OpusThe Tendulkar Opus that's likely to be out next year, contains exclusive photo shoots and special features with cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.u00a0 It weighs over 30 kg, has 800 pages, with each page measuring 50cm x 50cm, 1,000-plus images and an exclusive 2-metre wide gatefold created from Sachin's DNA.Wikipedia in a bookThe English edition of Wikipedia Encyclopedia contains around 3 million articles, and if someone were to print the entire Wikipedia into a book, the size of that book would be equivalent to 952 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.A student in UK has actually converted 0.01% of the Wikipedia encyclopedia into a printed book. It has 5,000 pages and is a compilation of 400+ featured articles. It's about 1 feet 7 inches high.u00a0Book with letters you can remove, unfold to readGriffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Corresp-ondence is an epistolary novel by Nick Bantock, published in 1991.u00a0The story is told through a series of letters and postcards between the two main characters. Each page contains a letter or card you can physically remove, unfold and read. Griffin Moss is a London-based artist who makes postcards for a living. His life changes when he receives a cryptic postcard from Sabine Strohem, a woman he has never met.

Middle finger to words

Next Story : Sounds of Terror

Mid-Day Web Stories

Mid-Day Web Stories

Latest News LIVE: Man dies after suicide bid in Thane; police launch probe

IPL 2024 Final Match: KKR vs SRH match prediction by astrologer Greenstone Lobo

Paris Olympics 2024: Neeraj Chopra’s mom celebrates Silver, praises Nadeem

Maratha Quota Protests: Mumbai Traffic Hit, Trains Overcrowded, Roads Blocked

sadsad