Two Chairs & A Ladder Miniature ver.
Two Chairs & A Ladder is an artist’s book by Florence Lanxuan Liu. It was inspired by her journey across different cities in China, witnessing the tradition of sausage curing by various households. She believes that the ways of sausage hanging show us how people intelligently utilize both private and public space, as well as mundane structures and furniture,to create a vital, functional,and temporary installation. The word”晒”in Chinese means both “to hang” and ‘to expose/exhibit”. Inspired by this wordplay, “Two Chairs & A Ladder” documents one of the encounters of sausage hanging with an accordion text block held by a hardcover, without any glue binding the pages together. The artist invites you to interact with the book’s structure with a creative mindset and to explore the dynamic relationship between art and everyday objects.
The magnets are one of the most important features of this Miniature book version, allowing it to be displayed hanging like a real sausage, or even linked together to form a continuation. The magnets in the two side covers are repulsive, so this is also destined to be a miniature book that won’t close.
The entire cover-making process must ensure both the functionality of the magnetic attraction and the aesthetic appeal. This requires the various combined materials to be as thin as possible, while not omitting any processing steps, such as sanding and leveling the cover boards and making the leather be as thin as possible, carefully handling the edges of each book.
The final decision for the cover material is to use three layers of 0.5mm thick greyboard, with acid-free PVA as the adhesive between them. Two layers will embed 1mm thick rectangular magnets, one layer will serve as the smoothing layer, and after slight sanding, it will be covered with pigskin thinned to 0.2mm. The inner side will be further reinforced and leveled with multiple layers of kozo paper. The kozo paper for the book’s inner pages is relatively simple, with double-sided precision micro-spraying, ultimately controlling the double-sided error to within approximately 1.5mm.
Two Chairs & A Ladder是艺术家刘澜瑄的艺术家书，其灵感来源于她在中国不同城市的旅行过程中所见证的各家各户的香肠晒制传统。她认为晾晒香肠的方式展示了人们如何智慧地利用私人和公共空间以及日常的建筑结构和家具，而创造出极具功能性且临时的装置。中文中的“晒”字既有“悬挂”也有“展示”的意思。受这种文字游戏的启发，Two Chairs & A Ladder记录了一次印象深刻的与香肠悬挂装置的偶遇，书本由硬卡封面承载着经折装字块，页与页之间无需胶水粘合。艺术家邀请您以开放和创造性的心态与书本结构互动，并探索艺术与日常物品之间的联动。
磁铁成了此次制作的豆本版本最重要的设计之一，使其得以像真正的香肠一样悬挂展示，甚至可以多本连起来形成一个延续。两侧封面里的磁铁是相斥的，所以这也注定是一本合不上的mini book。整个封面的制作过程既要保证磁吸功能的实现，又要保证美观。这就要求多种组合材料要尽可能的薄，同时处理的工艺一步都不能缺少，比如对封面板进行打磨和填平，且要尽可能地削薄皮革，处理每一本的包边。最终决定封面材料使用三层0.5mm厚的灰板，以无酸PVA作为之间的粘合剂。其中两层镶嵌1mm厚的长方形磁铁，一层作为平整层，轻微打磨后包以削薄至0.2mm的猪皮，内侧再使用楮皮纸多层加固填平。而书籍内页的楮皮纸则相对简单，进行了双面套准的微喷，最终控制双面误差在1.5mm左右。
Material 材料: Magnets, Pigskin, Kozo Paper 磁铁、猪皮、楮皮纸
Process 打印工艺: Archival Inkjet Print 艺术微喷
Year 年份: 2024
Size 尺寸: 2.5x2 cm