Past Exhibitions

One of a Kind: Unique Artist’s Books

11 January to 24 February

This exhibition presents works by over 40 artists brought together around Franz Kafka’s injunction that “a book must be an ice-axe to break the frozen seas of our souls.” The exhibition highlights bookwork where the ‘hand’ of the artist, often as a vehicle for personal expression—combined with choices of materials and relationships to image and text—is evident in the uniqueness of the finished project. Equally significant is the fact that each book in this exhibition is truly “one of a kind” and exists as a singular object not necessarily destined for mass publication.

This exhibition is a smaller version of one originally curated for the Pierre Menard Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2011. It has been organized by the Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax and is presented at the Owens Art Gallery with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Curated by Heide Hatry, a New York-based German neo-conceptualist artist who also has a life-long engagement with printed matter.