The Smiley Oracle
The Smiley Oracle works like this: You pose a question, you open the book at a random page, and you see a smiley (well, not all of them are actually smiling). This face is then interpreted as an answer to your question. With this work I wanted to investigate the relation between the contents of a book, and how they can vary from reader to reader. The Smiley Oracle is a toy, and a book art object. The edition is limited to 16. The books are numbered and signed. Each one has a unique combination of colours. Together with the book you will receive a little booklet which contains some information about the book and the artist (that would be me). The book’s 320 pages are 5cm x 4,5cm small (about 1-7/8″ x 2 inch). Each book sits in its own tiny slipcase with the title on it. 160 of the 320 pages carry a smiley face (always the right hand side). These are hand printed from 18 different hand cut lino blocks.
The concept behind the book investigates how the same book can have different content for different readers. I would claim that any book does this, although some may yield more similar experiences from reader to reader than others. With this book I tried to make something where the content could vary as much as possible.
The binding is a 2-needle Coptic binding with an exposed spine.
