Rollbuch: Books in Motion

About

The impact of the Rollbuch as a medium is as manifold as the book’s mechanism is simple; it is all about its inherent dynamics, the motion of the content itself, and the “pageless” continuity of its storyline. The dial empowers the viewer to control the pace of the narrative; with just a very slight movement of the hand they may accelerate, slow down, halt or even invert the flow of the story. This aspect of control contrasts with the inability to skip over, since the entire storyline is printed onto one single and seemingly endless page. That means, the viewer’s attention is forced onto the present sequence, whereas the past needs to be remembered, and the future is foreseen. 

Often, viewers/readers experience a certain meditative effect; the medium seems to softly force them into contemplation and towards themselves, rather than their attention being dispersed, as often happens when interacting with digital information channels. Beyond that, the Rollbuch keeps revealing surprising aspects of both storytelling and perception, a process that is nourished by each of the artists who contributes their particular understanding of it.

In conclusion, we may say that the Rollbuch (seemingly by its own choice) has turned out an artistic endeavour rather than “a product”, and keeps gaining momentum as a particle of current “analogue culture”, – all of which we invite you to investigate in the current exhibition at einBuch.haus.