The Unassuming Collection

de Chris Gibson

‘The Unassuming Collection’ is an immersive poem set in a library that unfolds gently over thirty pages. Each right-hand page contains a striking image taken from an existing book and each left-hand page features a line of text and a QR code. When the QR code is scanned (using any barcode reading app) the reader is taken to the complete book that the image was taken from. In effect ‘The Unassuming Collection’ is a library within a book, each line a departure point for a new experience. The books that make up this ‘library’ relate to the text of the poem, creating an interesting collection. Artist’s statement: “I love the way that through reading books can be a gateway to another world and a window on another way of life. I also find it incredible that technology, specifically the Internet, can be a portal through which we can access a whole host of objects that we would not have otherwise had access to. I wanted to bring the two ideas together in one artwork; a poem that could be immersive and a book that could hold many other books within it.”