There’s a good reason why our culture is so fond of book art — it not only carries with it the implied richness and depth of the text it uses as its material, but appeals to our love of books as objects, our desire to turn knowledge into art. But can an e-reader, that most sterile of reading experiences, have the same effect on us? In 56 Broken Kindle Screens, a print on demand paperback that we spotted over at Booooooom, artists Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso have put together a series of found photos of broken Kindle screens that become art in and of themselves.
As attached as we are to the printed word, we have to admit that we find these images, of electronic ink spattered across cracked plastic pages, quite beautiful. As its creators explain, “The book takes as its starting point the peculiar aesthetic of broken E Ink displays and serves as an examination into the reading device’s materiality. As the screens break, they become collages composed of different pages, cover illustrations and interface elements.” The result is quite lovely, in its own stark, black and white way: a patchwork digital collage created at random. Click through to check out a few pages from the book, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Image credit: Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso
Image credit: Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso
Image credit: Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso
Image credit: Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso
Image credit: Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso
Image credit: Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso
Image credit: Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso
Image credit: Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso
Image credit: Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso