About Floating World

The aim of "Floating world" is to find ways for artists to disseminate their ideas as widely as possible using the medium of artists books. Glenn Holman and Andy Parsons initiated the project in 2003. The artists invited to contribute a book were chosen to reflect the wide variety of contemporary practice from Sarah Carne whose work is performative and video based to Edwin Aitken who works primarily in painting.

For all the Artists involved, creating a book became an absorbing and challenging research project. On a practical level this project involved the sharing of expertise with other artists unused to both the more traditional bookbinding and printmaking processes and with some of the difficulties entailed in producing work digitally.

Each of the books made for Floating World is a discrete and autonomous piece of work, which although linked to each artists ongoing area of investigation is nonetheless an artwork in its own right. Each of the pieces are rich and personal works that unfold in the viewers mind in the same way as a piece of literature creates a world into which the reader can step.

Andy Parsons is based in Ireland while Glenn Holman lives and works in London. The geographical separation allows for development of a genuinely international outlook.

Floating World have been involved in a number of projects designed to explore the boundaries and possibilities of the medium. In 2007 as part of the Enniskillen Arts Festival, we used a tourist information stand to show works in the foyer of the town hall. The piece was an experiment in showing books in a less conventional way, outside the context of a gallery or bookshop. Illustration

In a similar vein our recent show at Sligo At Gallery, Reading Room, aimed to be "be a new kind of exhibition - one where you can pick up the art works and look at them", The first room of the show was a reading room, with shelves built around the walls and sofas and a table. Visitors could walk in off the street into the gallery and
take artists books off the shelves to look at them .The fact that you could handle the works made it a very unconventional sort of show. It was designed to put the
democratic impulse that underpins the whole philosophy of Floating World centre stage.

In the second room each artist selected objects/artifacts which link to the books they have made, this included painting, prints, photography, sculpture and video.
The room reversed the conventional hierarchy of art production by setting out traditional art objects such as paintings prints sculptures as an index to the
books.
The third and final room in the gallery was a making room where visitors could make their own books using materials provided.

We are currently exploring the idea of using Artists books to create collaborative works with members of the public, and developing new ways of making and showing them so that they reach the widest possible audience. At the same time we are continuing to develop works our contributing artists, and will look to broaden our portfolio by inviting new artists to take part.