Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn

The Fascinating Art of Paper Engineering . . . Fantastic Forms

The fascinating art of paper engineering is the focus of a new exhibit that is on display in the Libraries’ gallery at the National Museum of American History. Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop, and Turn includes 44 books that range in date from the mid-16th to the early 21st centuries, creating a fascinating retrospective of volumes, which were designed and constructed with parts that move. Selected by Stephen Van Dyk, the exhibit curator at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library in New York, the books are divided into four primary categories according to each one’s paper construction type, as well as the mechanisms employed. The groups include Movables, Pop-Ups, Folding Mechanisms, and Fantastic Forms. The Office of Exhibits Central collaborated with the Libraries on the organization and production of the exhibit. This post will focus on “Fantastic Forms,” which embrace those books which contain a combination of construction types.
 
The fourth category of books included in the exhibit, “Fantastic Forms,” incorporates multiple construction types, which range from traditional mechanisms to ever-changing new innovations.  Mega-Beasts by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart, printed by Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2007, is one of many examples included in the exhibit.

“Fantastic Forms” book: Mega-Beasts.

Office of Exhibits Central's Richard Gould and Stoy Popovich place a plexi vitrine on top of the “Fantastic Forms” case base using rubber suction cups.

The completed “Fantastic Forms” case.

“Fantastic Forms” book, titled One Red Dot: A Pop-Up Book for Children of All Ages, by
David A. Carter, was printed by Little Simon, New York, in 2004.

From their varied subject matter—scientific, theatrical, religious, historical—to their wide-ranging forms of construction—Movables, Pop-Ups, Folding Mechanisms, Fantastic Forms—the books included in Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop, and Turn are multi-dimensional works of art.  The exhibit captures the excitement and wonder, as well as the complexity and sometimes seemingly gravity-defying actions, of these captivating books.

—Lori Dempsey, Smithsonian Office of Exhibits Central

The Fascinating Art of Paper Engineering ... Installing the Exhibit

The fascinating art of paper engineering is the focus of a new exhibit that is on display in the Libraries’ gallery at the National Museum of American History. Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop, and Turn includes 44 books that range in date from the mid-16th to the early 21st centuries, creating a fascinating retrospective of volumes, which were designed and constructed with parts that move. Selected by Stephen Van Dyk, the exhibit curator at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library in New York, the books are divided into four primary categories according to each one’s paper construction type, as well as the mechanisms employed. The groups include Movables, Pop-Ups, Folding Mechanisms, and Fantastic Forms. The Office of Exhibits Central (OEC) collaborated with the Libraries on the organization and production of the exhibit.

While the books are important as works of art, the design and engineering behind their construction is equally significant.  Ensuring that all of the parts that move can survive thousands of manipulations, and that all parts can be contained within the covers of the volume once it is closed, often involves complex planning and testing.  Additionally, the movable parts must successfully satisfy the design concepts that the author is hoping to convey.  

Moreover, designing and constructing brackets to support the books while they are on display is a considerable challenge.  Office of Exhibits Central’s plexi specialist, Richard Gould, worked closely with Libraries' conservator, Vanessa Haight Smith, to design and fabricate mounts that would protect the books’ fragile elements, while at the same time, allow the public to view the volumes as the authors intended them to be seen.  Bee: A Read-about, Fold-out, and Pop-up, by David Hawcock and Lee Montgomery, printed by Random House, New York, in 1994, for example, has folding layers which allow a full three-dimensional reconstruction of a honeybee’s body and wings, when the book’s covers are brought together back to back.  The book is supported by a plexi bracket that is attached to the rear wall of the exhibit case, which creates the appearance of the bee in flight.

 

 “Folding Mechanisms” book: Bee: A Read-about, Fold-out, and Pop-up.

The Office of Exhibits Central also collaborated with the Libraries on the installation of the exhibit.  While Office of Exhibits Central staff placed decks, graphics, label bars, and brackets, Haight Smith carefully installed the books in their individual cases. 

Scenes from an installation of an exhibition. Top: OEC's Richard Gould attaches a plexi book mount to the back wall of an exhibit case.  Center: The Libraries' Vanessa Haight Smith installs the “Pop-Ups” book, Ricky the Rabbit, with illustrations by Vojtech Kubasta, printed by Bancroft in London, ca. 1961. Bottom: OEC's Kathleen Varnell and Rolando Mayen install entryway graphics.

In addition to the remarkable books that are on view, an equally compelling element of the exhibit is a video component developed by the Libraries. One of the two films on continuous display in the gallery contains an enlightening interview with book author and designer, Chuck Fischer, who describes the movable book design and construction process. The second video is a collection of stop-action shots which, when strung together, demonstrate the way in which a number of the books included in the exhibit open and close, revealing the parts that move.

From their varied subject matter—scientific, theatrical, religious, historical—to their wide-ranging forms of construction—Movables, Pop-Ups, Folding Mechanisms, Fantastic Forms—the books included in Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop, and Turn are multi-dimensional works of art. The exhibit captures the excitement and wonder, as well as the complexity and sometimes seemingly gravity-defying actions, of these captivating books.

—Lori Dempsey, Smithsonian Office of Exhibits Central

Related articles by Zemanta

• Adobe Launches Adobe Museum of Digital Media (eon.businesswire.com)
• Odds and Bookends: September 3, 2010 (firstbook.org)

Page Turners in Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn

Pop-up mechanisms—which allow certain elements to pop up from the surface of a book page—are just some of the paper construction types highlighted in the Libraries’ exhibit, Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn, on view in the Libraries’ gallery at the National Museum of American History. The exhibit, described on the Office of Exhibit Central’s (OEC) website in June 2010, includes 44 books that range in date from the mid-16th to the early 21st centuries, creating an intriguing retrospective of volumes, which were designed and constructed with parts that move.

Selected by Stephen Van Dyk, the exhibition curator and Librarian at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, the books are divided into four primary categories according to each one’s paper construction type, as well as the mechanisms employed. The groups consist of Movables, Pop-Ups, Folding Mechanisms, and Fantastic Forms or Multiple Constructions. Examples of mechanisms contained in two of these categories—Pop-Ups and Multiple Constructions—can be activated by visitors to the gallery thanks to a clever page-turning device, loaned to the Libraries by Ann Montanaro, President of the Movable Book Society. Originally constructed by Waldo Hunt, publisher and founder of InterVisual Books, it was used as a prototype by OEC’s model shop to construct the page turners that are on display in the exhibit. Wow!: The Pop-Up Book of Sports (on the left) and The Pop-Up Book of Phobias (on the right), donated to the exhibition by Susan R. Frampton, are connected to the devices, and allow viewers to see the paper engineering mechanisms at work, at the push of a button.

A windshield wiper-like arm has a small fork at the end which captures the page and holds it in place. The arm is connected to a low-powered synchronous timing motor that is concealed inside the pedestal on which the device sits, which moves the arm back and forth; as the arm moves, the page follows along with it. By the time the arm has completed its trip from right to left, the previous page has been turned, and a new page has been revealed; the arm then moves in the opposite direction so that the previous page is visible once more. The cycle is slow enough that visitors can watch the book’s moving parts with ease, as they open and close.

“From studying the Libraries’ page turner, I had a good idea of how I wanted to construct the device for the Paper Engineering exhibit,” said OEC model maker, Jon Zastrow. “A low voltage push button activates a relay, and turns the 120V timing motor to the ‘on’ position. The page turner arm swings through its cycle. A micro switch opens the circuit, turning off the motor each time the arm reaches its ‘home’ position, until the button is pushed again, thereby conserving energy.” The fabric-covered pedestal on which the page turner sits, has a slot cut into it to provide a free range of motion for the device’s arm as it moves back and forth. The device, itself, is constructed of molded plexiglas, which serves as a book cradle.

The exacting design and engineering of the various book elements allow authors to create an infinite number of variations—at all levels of complexity—which work together successfully. The page turners help viewers see how the mechanisms function, and how the various elements connect to one another. Due to the great popularity of Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop, and Turn, the page turners have already completed thousands of revolutions. They will, no doubt, continue to delight visitors for thousands more revolutions to come.

—Lori Dempsey, Office of Exhibits Central, Smithsonian Institution

Popping Up All Over

The pop-up craze has hit the gift shop at the National Museum of American History!

Readers of all ages can delight in the wonderful arrangement of pop-ups, a few of which are featured in the Libraries' exhibition, Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop and Turn, which is on display in the first floor Libraries gallery at the National Museum of American History through the fall of 2011.

Come visit this interactive display and check out the exhibition!

—Liz O'Brien

Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn—Check Out the Exhibition Brochure!

Movable, pop-up, folding, and multiple-construction books from the year 1570 to the present day comprise this Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ exhibition highlighting innovative book design,which is on display in the Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition Gallery, National Museum of American History, First floor west, through September 1, 2011.

The exhibition features the art of paper engineering in the production of books with moving parts, such as peep shows, volvelles, accordion books and pop-up books, published from the 15th century to modern times. Viewers will receive an in-depth look at the structure and design of pop-up and movable books, with over 50 works demonstrating the diverse methods designers and paper engineers use to magically transform flat, static images in basic paper constructions into dynamic, multi-dimensional forms.

The exhibition brochure is now available as a downloadable PDF. Pop-up enthusiasts can also keep track of the show and the Libraries' extensive movable book collections on its Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn blog.

—Elizabeth Periale

Image: Marion Bataille’s ABC-3D (2008)