Review: Simultaneous: Seripop & Sonnenzimmer/Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts

Sonnenzimmer,
The Impossibility of Language of Construction, 2015. Artist book.

RECOMMENDED

Forging pivotal screenprinting practices that go beyond paper-and-ink, Montreal-based Seripop (Yannick Desranleau and Chloe Lum) and Chicago natives Sonnenzimmer (Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi) have independently, albeit in close conversation for years, developed diverse bodies of work based in subverting surfaces. In “Simultaneous: Seripop & Sonnenzimmer,” on view through April 11 at the Center for Book and Paper Arts, the dialogues that forged their camaraderie are translated into a terra incognita that suggests how to wear paintings, listen to fabric and touch sound.

In a show that aims to remove the limits of what could constitute “book art,” there is no need to tread lightly. Visitors are encouraged to traipse through Seripop’s sculptural paper landscapes and touch the installations, all while donning wireless headphones that broadcast the minimal, mesmerizing tones coaxed from dual turntables spinning Sonnenzimmer’s hand-molded records.

While most shows start with installation and address the catalogue as an afterthought, Simultaneous emerged from the form of the book itself: a carefully designed edition documenting discussions and studio visits between artists, curators and collaborators that offers an intimate backstory behind the assemblage of fabric and paper works. We hope that this conversation keeps unfolding. (Jessica Barrett Sattell)

Through April 11 at the Center for Book and Paper Arts, 1104 South Wabash