The Ruined Book
1982
The Ruined Book Sculpture.
Wood, varnish, faux brick wallpaper, furniture castors & hinges.
200 cm x 120 cm x 24 cm.
Exhibitions: Pacesetters Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, Norwich, UK. 1982.
The Ruined Book, Bookworks, London. 1984
Catalogues: The Ruined Book, pub. Bookworks, London. 1984; Langlands & Bell, Works 1986-1996, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK. Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany. Grey Art Gallery, New York, USA. 1996. Degrees of Truth, Sir John Soane’s Museum, London. 2020.
Current Location: Destroyed.
The Ruined Book, Photograph.
195 cm x 138 cm.
One day we tied the sculpture to the roof of our mini and drove from Whitechapel down to a demolition site in Wapping. We stood the sculpture in front of a big pile of rubble and photographed it in 35 mm black and white and made a huge black & white print of it. We liked the photo so much that we destroyed the sculpture afterwards.
Collections: The Ruined Book, Photograph. 195 cm x 138 cm. Langlands & Bell Archive.
The Ruined Book, Photograph: 406 mm x 508 mm (16″ x 20″), Contemporary Art Society, London (Tom Bendhem Gift).
The Ruined Book, Maquette for sculpture 1982
Wood, Photographic paper, paint.
15 cm x 28.3 cm x 3.5 cm.
Exhibitions: Mode(l)s of Thought – Working Models 1979 – 2014 Gibberd Gallery, Harlow, UK.
Catalogue: Mode(l)s of Thought. pub. Gibberd Gallery Harlow, UK
Collection: Langlands & Bell Archive.
