"Stone Book Universe"
- carved and polished granite
- Anna & Wolfgang Kubach-Wilmsen
Thinking about a proposal for the Plaza in front of the Archives Research Center, University of Connecticut, we first tried to imagine the human wisdom inside the building, the history of men, written in books and stored in relicts of now and long ago. For it to be a project in relation to all the books, that contain spiritual history and development of mankind inside the Library Archives.
While thinking perhaps of a blue stone, we found a big brown Finland Granite. This stone had a very special structure of huge numbers of dark balls surrounded by green circles. The spheres in the stone volume appeared to us like a micro-universe and we both fall in love with it.
Finally we remembered the landscape of Connecticut with the many erratic blocks all over and under the surface of the ground. They made us think about the cosmic history of this environment. So we had the idea to create a big stonebook for the library Plaza.
• During the first two months the work was very rough. We used hammer and chisels to release the stones “BOOK” out of the natural broken stoneblock.
• In the second phase of realization we used electric grinding machines, to shape the surface of the book-block.
• In the end – process from stone-block to stone-book: Wolfgang did he finish grinding with water and diamante-discs and Anna worked the composition of the foliage.
• Towards the end of our struggle with the resistance we started to touch it, and found, that it looked like a sculptors’ prose.
• We called it Stonebook UNIVERSE
Stonebooks
Stonebooks are relics of the earth’s prehistory.
Books are coffin or chest
of human information
Stonebooks are eye witnesses
of their own history of origin
once upon a time and now
From the rock painting to the letter
From the rock to the book
Stone book
Stonebooks = sculptural prose
When I take the stonebook in my hand it is cold
Cold crawls in my hand
Warmth moves into the stone
The stonebook stores my comprehension.
A book is held by the hand
and read with the eyes
A stonebook is held by the eyes
and red with the hand.
Stonebooks are virginal books.
- Created: 1995
- Current Location: University of Connecticut - Storrs, CT 06269 (google map)
- Collections: Art in Public Spaces, Public Art Collection - University of Connecticut