Interactive Installations for Spatial Access to Artistic Sketchbooks

A book is a book – or is it? With present-day, affordable technology, we can scale a book to become a spatial object, or even a space in itself, of almost arbitrary size. We describe our design of and experiences with a generic interactive installation, called Viskbook, that provides a convincing illusion of oversize books, allowing the spectator to turn over the pages using natural and intuitive gestures. It provides a new media for exhibiting books in museums and elsewhere. It can be used for vulnerable and irreplaceable unique books, that otherwise would remain in the safe-box, and for books that may have no non-virtual counterpart and which may go beyond what we normally expect from a book. Viskbook has been used successfully for displaying historical sketchbooks, integrated in thematic art exhibitions, and for experimental books based on our own artistic material selected. An important conclusion is that oversizing a book, in addition to an enhanced visibility, creates a novel and spatial experience of the book.