Library of Absenceéditions Take5

In the artist’s book Library of Absence, published by éditions Take5, we explore ideas of expansion and the infinite through geometry, pattern, and rhythm.
The artist Conrad Shawcross has designed and engineered a valise that he calls an “umbrette,” deriving from the Latin word umbra (shadow). Once opened, this sculptural suitcase magically projects on the wall a quasi-infinite number of patterns drawn by shadows. To accompany this meditation on infinity, Vladimir Kramnik, former world chess champion, has written a text highlighting his thoughts on strategy, time, beauty, expansion, and deep vision; Chess indeed offers us another way of apprehending the infinite as that there are more possible variants in a game of chess than there are atoms in the observable universe. The graphic design, by the Swiss designer Aurèle Sack, activates the power of the square and the cycle through a dynamic construction of the maquette. Sack also created the typography.