Altered books. How the web changed something.

As I said in my previous post on this subject, making altered books as artworks was something that gave to me some guilt. Books are somehow sacred things, in a very secular way (in many religions too, but I'm not interested in religion). 

So, when I started using books to make artworks - cutting them, pasting them, painting and even burning them - I felt a bit guilty. It was about 20 years ago, and people wasn't used to see books destroyed in the name of Art. Surrealism, Dada, Pop Art and Conceptual had used books already, of course. But that discomfort coming from a raped book still lasted, in people and in me too.

What's changed now? Well, the Web above all. Books are not anymore the only depositaries of the free flow of knowledge. And tyrannies and fascist regimes are not burning books in the squares anymore (they censor and control the web, instead, as far as they can). 

In addition, there are ebooks and ebook readers. Paper-based things are accompanied by electronic ones, everywhere. I don't think paper books are going to become extinct, but surely their responsibilities and their duty are lighter now.

In 2001 I took part to a project and a collective exhibition titled "La fin du livre ? Ou tout l'univers n'existe que pour un livre". It was about Borges's suggestions on books and libraries faced with persistent attacks on freedom in our society. Are these risks and feelings so far and gone, today?

Anyway, I keep usings foolish and expendable books to make my artworks. And I still feel guilty.