Bottom of the Lake = Fond du Lac

Creator

Christian Patterson
Special Collections, Rhode Island School of DesignFollow
Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of DesignFollow

Files

Creation Date

2015

Keywords

artists' books; altered book; Stacked & Altered exhibition, summer 2022

Description

68, 175 pages : illustrations (some color). Bottom of the Lake is a 256-page facsimile of the artist's family's telephone book for his hometown of Fond du Lac, printed in 1973, soon after his birth. The book includes found markings and reproductions of inserted materials, along with Patterson's own drawings, photographs and marginalia. Bottom of the Lake is a book within a book that carefully combines the original, found, fact-based phone book with the artist's highly subjective re-imagination of his hometown; it playfully juxtaposes different documentary forms and ways of seeing to create a deeply personal, darkly humorous other book. In addition, the experience of the book is extended beyond its pages by an interactive feature -- a telephone number attached to the book that connects users with over 100 experiences mixing field audio recordings, found archival audio and performances that re-imagine and re-create the artist's hometown. Curated title for Fleet Library Special Collections exhibition Stacked & Altered, summer 2022.

RISD Fleet Library Catalog Record

https://librarycat.risd.edu/record=b1455289~S4

Press

[Köln] : Koenig Books, [2015]

Rights

©[Köln] : Koenig Books, [2015]

Materials / Techniques

drawings (visual works); photographs; marginalia (annotations); alteration (process and technique); paper

Measurements

28 cm.