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A Paperful Society

11 February 2010

The times that folding an origami crane was considered a noticeable achievement are behind us. The current top level of origami is folding a Chinese dragon that takes about one and a half day to fold. You can follow all the travails of these origami masters on YouTube if you wish.

Three dimensional book by Olafur Eliasson

Making paper art (or craft) is popular. It has become a specific field in the already rich environment of the visual arts. There is something magical about paper. Until recently, it was the indispensable material for human communication, for recording our history and our cultural progress. Human civilisation is closely linked to the use of (printed) paper, the development of modern societies are unthinkable without it. Paper is unimaginably important and so ubiquitous. Nothing is more plain and nothing is more exciting. A paperless society has been predicted for the past 30 years, but the paper production has only increased every year.

Long-Bin Chen

It is incredible what some people can make with paper, whole scaled cities are created with it, or fantastically complicated book sculptures. Making scale models with printed carton has been a hobby activity for hundreds of years and printed carton is still the most important packaging material, generating a never ending stream of inventions for new applications. The traditional use of paper got new impulses by products like the carton furniture of Frank Gehry and the architectural structures of Shigeru Ban. To produce the smaller scaled art pieces, limitless patience, a sharp knife and some glue is all one needs. Paper has also become a material to produce animated clips as a sort of variation of the traditional 'putty' animations.

Paper Tea House by Shigeru Ban

I have collected a few samples of paper art. First, an intriguing clip for the New Zealand Book Council. Second, perplexingly complex cuttings by Ebon Heath. Third, a sample of the many ways books are used make them three dimensional adventures from the creative simple sample made by Olafur Eliasson to the very complex works of the Chinese artist Long-Bin Chen.