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Wurmzauber
(Worm magic)

Item date(s): May 2002

Veronika Schäpers


Medium: Torinoko paper mounted on Kozo paper
Pages: unpaged
Size: 340mm
Binding: Red slipcase
Inscription: Signed by the artist.
Edition: #25/25


Place publication: Tokyo, Japan
Publisher: Artists Book
Exhibition 2022

Additional notes:
In red slipcase. Spliced Paper pages laminated onto red Kozo pages allowing bending of the page.

Idee und Gestaltung: Veronika Schäpers die Übersetzung des Spruches wurde zitiert nach Gerhard Eis, Altdeutsche Zaubersprüche, Berlin, 1964. Gedruckt von Zinkklischees auf Torinoko-papier, das mit Shoen-Tusche gefärbt wurde. Schrifttype: Monaco 38pt. Auflage: 25 arabisch und 5 römisch nummeriete Exemplare.

Artist's description: "Tokyo, 2002, 8 pages, Torinoko paper cut and mounted on red Kozo paper, dyed with black Shoen ink. Printed in black by zinc-clichés. Torinoko cardboard cover, held together by red Kozo paper joints and dyed with black shoen ink. The pages are stitched to the cover. Slipcase covered with red polyester cotton fabric. Black gum label and thin gum stripes are glued on the slipcase. 13 x 33.5 cm., signed by the artist in an edition of 25 Arabic and 5 Roman numbered copies.

In this book I have used the Old Saxon version of the "Wurmzauber", a magic charm from the ninth century. A worm that together with its brood causes a serious disease shall be expelled by this magic charm. Most probably, the disease referred to was consumption, because it was said to be transmitted by worms.

The text is distributed generously on pages that first have been painted with black Chinese ink. Guards of red paper break up each page. They resemble folds that come about when a book is put up upright for a long time or used too many times. At the same time, these guards make it easier, but strange to flip through the pages. The red lines together with the black ink images appear very graphic, almost technical, and they let us think of a "worm illness" of our days: computer viruses.

Paper samples (72Fr)

Illustrated on page 253 of Masters: Book Arts, curated by Eileen Wallace, 2011.

Exhibition notes:
Creative Research: The Artists’ Books of Veronika Schäpers, Robbin Ami Silverberg and Julie Chen JBCBA, WAM

22 September to 15 December 2022

Ref: GB/10368













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