An artist book and installation : house of photography : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Abstract

Using Eames House of Cards as inspiration, I created an artist book that incorporated my design and photography skills together in one artwork. My artist book, the House of Photography, demonstrates the two-dimensional qualities of photography (the individual images on each card) in a three-dimensional interactive design (the architectural structure that is formed when the cards are interlocked). Since I have always been interested in voyeuristic photography (photographing people when they are not aware of the camera), I wanted to use this artist book as an opportunity to explore this aspect of photography even further. The House of Photography conceptually balances its voyeuristic subject with its architectural format. Architecture is usually seen as cold and static; however, using images of real people interacting within a space brings life and vibrance into the structure itself.In the installation of the House of Photography, lights were placed at the base of the architectural structure. When the overhead lights were on, the architectural structure was seen within the daytime atmosphere of the space. Periodically, the overhead lights would dim and the structure's base lights would turn on to represent the nighttime atmosphere. Extra photographs were also placed at the base of the structure. People were allowed to add on to or take away photographs from the structure. By allowing people to manipulate the physical architecture of the work, they could create an artwork of their own using my photographs and original structure.