In her bachelor thesis “In Kontakt” Hannah Böker analyzes the interaction between the human body and the book during reading. The aim is to create awareness for the importance of the physical dimension of reading in the age of digital media. Her book project was nominated for the Cologne Design Award and made it onto the shortlist for the Stiftung Buchkunst's Young Book Design Awar
Reading a book doesn’t just involve our eyes and hands:
No, reading is a physical process.
The book is held, opened, bent, flicked through and painted.
The human body is continuously in contact with both the physical book and the content on its pages. “In Kontakt” uses images of readers’ heads, hands, and body postures to visually analyze the interaction between body and book.
By taking scenes of reading from everyday contexts and depicting them in the book, attention is drawn to the physical dimension of reading. The conception and design of the book are intended to create new approaches to the body of the book, increasing awareness of one’s own body while reading and encouraging physical interaction with the book.
The book includes not only visual insights into the interaction between the human body and the book but also written arguments and personal experiences that provide a deeper understanding of the physical dimension of reading.
Many thanks to Sabine Gross for the inspiration and for making her text “Lesen-Körper-Text” available for the book.
Images: Hannah Böker, Philip Lehmann
Supervised by: Michael Gais, Prof. Oliver Baron
