titok book
titok

By Robbin Ami Silverberg et al.
New York: Dobbin Books, 1996-1998. Edition of 5.

12 x 12 x 12" closed. Consists of 27 4" blocks. Housed in a lidded collapsible box.

Twenty artists and writers plus one musician were asked via letter to send, inform, or instruct Silverberg about a secret. As the secretist, she used their responses to create titok—twenty-seven four-inch blocks that form a twelve-inch cube of three layers (nine cubes per layer). Some boxes are fully closed, some have peepholes, and some are open with boxes within. The exterior and interior faces are covered with over 200 images and texts produced by photography, photocopy, photo transfer and drawing. The imaging on the blocks functions like a maze through which the viewer proceeds, exploring the ideas and feelings suggested about secrets. Each block has a hidden material within that makes noise when rattled. Also included is a CD with a 27-part violin piece composed specifically for the viewing of titok.

Silverberg: “There is neither table of contents nor smoking gun to trace the sources of the elements which make up this artist book. Authorship is treated as privileged information in order to focus the readers' attention on the initial outsider relationship of beholder to content.. My role in creating this object is that of a secretist, a dealer in secrets.”

Secret providers (from NYC unless otherwise noted): Beattie & Davidson; Sylvia Benitez; Yvette Biro; Andras Borocz; Agnes Eperjesi, Budapest; Daniel Georges; Frank Gillette, Long Island; Martin Kubaczek (with the help of Suzuki Toru: Thuringer Wald Co. Ltd.& Kashiwabara Mio), Tokyo; Endre Kukorelly, Budapest; Louise Lawler; Jean Louis LeBreux, Perce, Quebec; Jennifer Lytton; Gabriel Martinez, Philadelphia; Warren Niedich; Laura Parnes; Geza Perneczky, Köln; Simcha Shirman, Tel Aviv; Wolfgang Staehle; Paul Stang, Arlington, VA; X-art Foundation.

The book was commissioned for In the Flow: Alternative Authoring Strategies, the final exhibition at the Franklin Furnace Gallery in New York City.
$3,000 (Last Copy)