An exhibition of rare pop-up books will open in Taipei tomorrow with the aim of showing visitors that such books are also works of art, organizers said yesterday.
The exhibition will showcase 160 rare pop-up books ranging from the longest pop-up book in the world — an 8.2m long volume detailing the history of the Czech Republic — to a 4cm wide miniature version of Anne of Green Gables.
Other items that will be on display include books that open to a 1.4m long Titanic, a 1.5m tall space shuttle and a Taiwanese handpuppet theater.
Photo: CNA
The exhibition will also feature a set of books by the US fashion quarterly Visionaire, which has produced pop-ups by contemporary artists such as China’s Cai Guoqiang (蔡國強), who is known for his gunpowder drawings and explosive works.
“Our biggest goal is to send the message that pop-ups are not just ordinary books or children’s books, but interactive visual art,” said Michael Yang (楊清貴), curator of the event and a private collector who supplied the exhibits.
“Every pop-up book is assembled by hand, which means that each one is a unique piece of art,” Yang said.
The interactive nature of pop-up books also makes it easy for readers to absorb the knowledge and information contained therein, he added.
Chang Yui-tan (張譽騰), director of the National Museum of History, where the exhibition will be held, agreed that pop-ups are unique and more than just books.
The museum hopes to show how pop-up books have evolved over the past 700 years, from a resource that explained astronomy, anatomy and mechanics to spinoffs of popular movies such as Titanic, Star Wars and Harry Potter, he said.
Matthew Reinhart, a US pop-up book artist who has created many award-winning books such as Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy, and Hong Kong pop-up artist Liu Sijie will also attend the exhibition to discuss the creative processes with visitors.
A total of 1,000 elementary-school children will be invited to attend the exhibition for free and workshops will be held to show teachers how to use pop-up books as a learning resource.
The exhibition will run until Sept. 16.
A series of discussions on the legacy of martial law and authoritarianism are to be held at the Taipei International Book Exhibition this month, featuring findings and analysis by the Transitional Justice Commission. The commission and publisher Book Republic organized the series, entitled “Escaping the Nation’s Labyrinth of Memory: What Authoritarian Symbols and Records Can Tell Us,” to help people navigate narratives through textual analysis and comparisons with other nations. The four-day series is to begin on Thursday next week with a discussion between commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Polish-language translator Lin Wei-yun (林蔚昀), and Polish author and artist Pawel Gorecki comparing
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