'Re-Production': connecting the Chinese lunisolar calendar and the book 'Uranus'

In the exhibition Re-Production, Karel Martens explores the connection between the Chinese lunisolar calendar and the book Uranus in a site-specific book installation. During his first visit to China, Marten became fascinated by the format of the lunisolar calendar and aspired to combine this with his study of the celestial bodies of Uranus. The book Uranus arrived at the exhibition from the printer as a bound object and its pages of 340 individual images are arranged in sequence on the gallery’s western wall. The installation is located in the Shanghai Printing Technology Research Institute which is the birthplace of modern Chinese typographic design and has continued to contribute to the digital development of Chinese fonts. Re-Production corresponds to this rich and complex design history of the site.

Martens invites participation in the transformation of the book as an object and the movement of the exhibition through time and space. As a collaborative project, it is Marten’s interest to provide a fluid space for reconstruction in which collective knowledge is gathered. In Re-Production, visitors will also be challenged to observe and explore where and how the exhibition will be carried on by shifts of ownership and context.

The book exhibition is produced by IS A GALLERY in co-production with ROMA Publications, and is curated by Zhonkai Li.

Re-Production can be seen until 15 November at the Shanghai Printing Technology Research Institute in China.