This project critiques and challenges the very act of reading, to engage oneself with the page and how the sequence of pages conveys the entirety of the book. To handle, to manipulate, to fold, to close and to reopen is the act of reading and yet the expected form is always that of a linear codex. To subvert this expectation is to engage with bookwork at the seam between book object and sculpture. To question what the very essence of a book is, is intrinsic to this work.

The canonical text, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a framework upon which the relationship between objectivity and subjectivity hangs. The full text is objective. 25 642 words. Printed in the same Baskerville typeface as it was originally in 1886. Letter size relates to oneself as the author and as the canvas size - 10.311 point. Leading - 12.513 point. Exacting to three decimal places, it is a direct relationship between my own physical size and the physical length of the novel. Digitally printed, the ink is sat upon the surface of 75gsm Red Label Paper. Extremely lightweight and yet very strong, the paper acts as the hinge mechanism for the boustrophedon-style fold.

The act of reading is subjective, however, reading a linear codex is not a unique experience. This bookwork aims to provide the condition of a unique and subjective experience every time it is read. Every instance of reading will be new, fragmentary and fresh. Therefore, the work takes on a cyclical existence. It can be returned to, reread and experienced anew multiple times over. To challenge the act of reading is to explore the extremities of bookwork and to critically engage the viewer in reading is to encourage them to question their own preconceptions of what it means to read and what can be read.