PAST EVENT: Lost Tablets Exhibition and Book Launch
Lost Tablets Exhibition and Book Launch
6-8pm Saturday, February 19th at Bookshop by Uro, 5/30 Perry Street, Collingwood Yards
Join us for the exhibition and book launch of 'Lost Tablets' by Jan van Schaik, hosted by Uro Publications at Bookshop by Uro.
Lost Tablets is a series of works that explore the recognisability of a widely known children’s toy, and the recognisability of the geometric language of architecture.
We invite you to join us for a drink and an exclusive opportunity to view Jan van Schaiks collection of 'Lost Tablets'. The book will be available to purchase along with a signed box set of the book and postcard images of the works in a limited edition of 20. A selection of the works themselves will also be available for purchase.
Due to restricted COVID-19 capacity limits, we kindly request you to register for the event through our Eventbrite listing here. Please note, vaccination certificates will be necessary upon entry.
About the project
The Lost Tablets are a series of works by Jan van Schaik that explore the geometric language of architecture through the medium of children’s toy building blocks. Constructed by van Schaik from found blocks (many bearing the teeth marks of their former owners), with a mute face on one side and a dynamic, distinctly architectural side on the other, each tablet flickers with strange resonances that point to a shared but deeply subjective symbolism of building. From the buttresses of Gothic cathedrals and the blue ceilings of the Shah Mosque of Isfahan, to the inhabited machines and weightless engineering of the Space Age, the genetic lineage of the Lost Tablets is impossible to unpick, even while the potential connections are hard to ignore.
The Lost Tablets book continues this exploration of the tension between the ideal of a shared architectural language, and the ineluctable subjectivity of interpretation. Within the book, 50 authors respond to the first 50 works in the Lost Tablets series, with each author articulating their perception of one work, in their own language, and in a form corresponding to their own interests. The authors come from diverse fields. They are economists, songwriters, comedians, artists, curators, architects, linguists, sex workers, journalists, historians, lawyers, writers, philosophers, designers, poets, jewellers, educators, cyberneticians, students, and therapists. Their readings are equally diverse.
Note: Note: A box set, including the book and 50 postcard images of the alternative, ‘dynamic’ face of each Lost Tablet, is available in a limited edition of 20, signed by the author. If you are interested in a signed box set, please contact the bookshop directly at shop@uropublications.com
Contributors
Adam Nathaniel Furman, Alonso Gaxiola, Amy Rudder, Anna Johnson, Annacaterina Piras, Anusha Kenny, Audrey Schmidt, Beth George, Caitlin Blanchfield, Caitlin Fraser, Cameron Bruhn, Catherine Pierce, Conrad Hamann, Ellen Broad, Ellie Rennie, Esther Anatolitis, Fleur Watson, Genevieve Bell, Giles Fielke, Giselle Stanborough, Jaxon Waterhouse, Johan Michalove, Julien Leyre, June Jones, Leon van Schaik, Léuli Eshrāghi, Lisa Sullivan, Liss Fenwick, Lucinda Price, Lucy Van, Mykaela Saunders, Nikos Papastergiadis, Perry Kulper, Peter Atkins, Queenie Bon Bon, Ray Edgar, Robin Cohen, Robyn Stonehouse, Rory Hyde, Sarah Jamieson, Shona Stark, Sofi and Ehsan, Su san Cohn, Tilda Njoo, Tim Johannessen, Tohru Horiguchi, Tom McIlroy, Vivian Gerrand, Wendy Radford
About the author
Based in Melbourne Australia, Jan van Schaik is an architect at MvS Architects, a researcher and senior lecturer at RMIT Architecture & Urban Design, and a creative sector consultant at Future Tense.
Jan is the founder and producer of the WRITING & CONCEPTS public lecture and publication series, which reflects on the role that writing plays in the development of contemporary creative practice.
Tablet image featured above:
Blenheim - 2020, Reconfigured Lego, 19 x 24.5 x 6.2cm