Book to the future A talk with Altered Book Central’s Michael Whittaker and Adriane Herman BY CHRIS THOMPSON

Sometime this summer, when the 181 works of art now on view at the Portland Public Library’s Lewis Gallery are entered into the library’s collection, patrons will be able to check out and bring home one or more of the new breed of books produced in response to the Altered Book Project. There are books that can be pulled on a leash, used as a lectern, beheld for their artful additions and alterations — or read, even.

"Long Overdue: Book Renewal," a collaborative project developed by local librarian Michael Whittaker and artist and Maine College of Art professor Adriane Herman, begins an experimental inquiry into the nature and future of the book. We caught up to talk with them about the project’s origins and its implications:

Whittaker: I came up with the idea while reading a copy of Joe Orton’s biography Prick Up Your Ears that had been tossed by some folks moving out next door to me. Orton’s first notice by the public was not as the celebrated playwright he was to become but as a criminal charged with defacing books from the London Public Library. He and his lover would, in essence, alter library books with funny pictures and covertly slip them back into the stacks to be found by unsuspecting readers.

As an act of vandalism I found it somewhat lacking in scope, however, as an act of artistic intuition, I found it brilliant and irredeemably cool. Like most good ideas the Altered Book project arrived in my consciousness fully formed and easily explained to others.

I consider it extremely fortunate to the project that one of the first people I explained it to was Adriane Herman, a MECA professor and damn fine human being.

Phoenix: There were members of the library community worried about the implications of this variety of artmaking, and indeed to this approach to library stewardship.

Whittaker: The first thing that you must realize is that the degree granted by institutions of higher learning to the professionals who earnestly toil to ensure the free access to knowledge is called "Library Science." Second, the people who choose a career in libraries do so out of a passion for books as opposed to money. It isn’t any wonder that they should be concerned about the prospect of participating in a project based on the deconstruction of books held in the public trust, withdrawn or not.

Herman: We were fortunate to be able to bring internationally acclaimed artist Doug Beube to Portland, who introduced us to the notion that authors write texts, not books, and that the vessels that contain these texts often grow moribund while the texts live on in other iterations. Doug’s provocative work in book alteration went a long way toward granting the audience permission to breathe new life into books no longer of use to the library by cutting, pasting, collaging, and otherwise reconfiguring and recontextualing books and their contents.

I found the Director of the Portland Public Library’s support — both before and after people voiced misgivings — to be truly inspiring and, frankly, a relief in an age of dumbed-down education and growing anti-intellectualism in the public realm. Portland should be proud of having such an inspired library staff.

Q: What is the future of this initiative?

Whittaker: We’re interested in continuing to convene discussion about the nature of books, art, and the increasing roles that public institutions can play in enhancing the lives of all. There are already other institutions, ranging from major libraries to respected universities, planning exhibits of these altered books. We are also looking forward to the publication of an extensive catalogue of the entire project.

Herman: We also foresee a slate of book arts-related lectures, performances, exhibitions, and pie-eating contests. I hope that the seeds are sown for this project or things like it to gain a foothold in libraries everywhere.

Q: What do you imagine will be the future of the book?

Herman: At this point, I can’t help but see a cyclical return to the realm of the individually crafted "self-published" books that were generated by individuals who illuminated manuscripts or the likes of Gutenberg. If Gutenberg were alive today, I think he would be constantly logged in at www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/books/, utilizing their affordable means of publishing one-of-a-kind or small-edition books.

I love that technology has brought us to a place where the profit motive of the massive publishing houses doesn’t have to be an obstacle between a writer or visual artist and the dissemination of his or her work.

Whittaker: It depends on whether you are talking about the book as a format, or as a collection of thoughts and ideas presented in an accessible manner. If you think of a book as only a thing that has a bunch of pieces of paper with words on them held between two pieces of stiff cardboard, I imagine that in three or four generations they will cease to exist as a part of pop culture. The same goes for records, videos, and magazines devoted to better living. There is no denying that in the future the bulk of such products will be stored, accessed, and consumed digitally. The only people with what we today consider to be "books" will be the same type of people who now have extensive collections of Edison wax cylinders.

If you think of a book as a way of presenting information or entertainment created to enrich and ennoble the lives of people all over the world, they’ll never die.

Chris Thompson teaches at the Maine College of Art and he and his class were participants in the project. He can be reached at xxtopher@hotmail.com

"Long Overdue: Book Renewal" is at the Lewis Gallery, at the Portland Public Library, through April 30. Call (207) 871-1700.