“Digital literacy, that darling of techno-utopians, competes now with physical books and the solitary, contemplative print culture nourished by them,” writes artist and cultural critic Maureen Mullarkey , introducing her new exhibition at New York’s Kuoros Gallery. “Champions of screen reading predict that the paper book—an instrument of modernity—might not be around much longer. Consider, then, the contrasting possibility that in this digital age, books and book arts matter more than ever before.”
Mullarkey’s exhibition, titled Gutenberg Elegies , displays her recent collages of discarded books, diaries, ledgers, and music manuscripts, sure to delight any vetero-bibliophile. For those who love the staid dignity of a yellowed page and worn cover—and ideas that transcend a fifteen-minute news cycle—there is surely an elegiac note in her work, as well. (Forgive my blogging on this.) The exhibition runs from May 14 through June 12 at the Kuoros Gallery .
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