Exhibition

26 Sep – 6 Oct, 10 am – 9 pm

National Library Building

READ examines the intimacy and relationships between human beings and books through a first-person experience of observations through the context of reading.

“What does it mean to read a book?” As physical books continue to matter less and less in our everyday, what are we losing? Are we less aware of things, textures and space? Do we become oblivious to light hues and tonalities? Are we unable to keep our hands in a fixed position for long periods of time, of which it is not tedium that defines the duration but the gentle interaction with a book’s physical materiality…

In today's era of artificial intelligence, we find ourselves once again questioning our own humanity. Amidst this uncertainty, Atelier HOKO has chosen the book as both subject and context to explore and interrogate the intrinsic human behaviours associated with reading. It raises the discussion of how the humble book will continue to resist the digitisation of our reading experience, not out of nostalgia or resistance to change, but as a necessity to understand what reading truly means.

This showcase is developed from the 16th edition of Atelier HOKO’s research publication series “Science of the Secondary”, where the subject of “BOOK” is thoroughly interrogated through a sense-based process of inquiry.