The Book As Art

The Book As Art v.14: Ghosted is the fourteenth edition of an art show celebrating books: objects that, in an increasingly digital world, stubbornly survive.

In stories and folktales, ghosts are harbingers, haints, and often horror-inducing specters tied to places and sometimes people. In modern times, being “ghosted” refers to the sudden disappearance from social media or digital connections. Unlike the phantoms of old returning because they refuse to break connection to the physical world, people now retreat from contact, disappearing instantly, or fading away.

The book is a medium of practical expression and also a vessel for creative interpretation. Artists are invited to explore the limitless possibilities of the form and its impact. What is physical and phantom? What line is walked between folklore and figment? How do we transform language to fit the digital age? The objects in this exhibition should interpret the concept of the book and invite the viewer to look beyond the printed page to where ideas, words, and symbols are transformed and transfigured. Artists are challenged to embrace the dualities and paradoxes of communication—to celebrate the macabre and the mysterious, the familiar and the fantastic, the clear and the cryptic.