Detail View: Artists' Books Collection:

Filename: 
balzaculator1.jpg
Identifier: 
Balzaculator1
Artist: 
Lorenz, Angela
Author: 
Balzac, Honoré de
Title: 
K Balzaculator: la Comédie humaine as a binary system for Balzacolytes
Publisher: 
A. Lorenz
Edition: 
33
Year: 
2013
Creation Decade: 
2010-2019
Creation Century: 
21st
Dimensions: 
16 x 22 cm
Description: 
Limited edition of 33 copies, numbered and signed by the artist. Library copy is number 15. Consists of 91 loose cards, assembled in a canvas-covered portfolio, held together with eight linen bookbinding threads on each side, allowing the cover to open and close partially; faux terracotta loom weights tied to the ends of the threads; issued in an acrylic display case. This is an analog, proto-computer to determine which characters created by Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) appear in which stories or novels of The Human Comedy... The loom apparatus pays homage to French weaver and merchant Jacquard, whose innovations around the time of Balzac's birth constituted the first computer program: a series of punched cards to indicate a pattern to be woven automatically on a loom. The viewer may place the punched card in front of any of the 179 repeating characters in the Balzaculator and colored dots will show the novels or stories in which a character appears..."--Introduction card.
Call number: 
N7433.4.L67 B35 2013