The workshop, organised as part of the Art Publishing/Fine Publishing course by Professor Arduini, who also teaches Printing Process Techniques and Graphic Art, is aimed at enrolled students, divided into 2 groups, and takes place over 4 days (2 days of actual participation per student). The programme involves the creation of some of the most well-known bindings in the Western world and beyond, especially in the fields of art publishing, artists’ books, and fine publishing with hand bookbinding.
The techniques used by Franco Antolini, who will lead the workshop days, will be: the Medieval Notebook, the Long-Stitch Case Binding (a variant of the notebook) and the Crown Binding, better known in English as “Crown Binding”: essentially an origami-style folio case. On the second day, the following will be produced: the half-canvas case binding, the most traditional of all the techniques, as it originated in the 18th century and was the most widely used until the 1950s and 1960s, when it was supplanted by the paperback with a semi-rigid cover. We will then move on to Long Stitch binding with an exposed spine and finally to the creation of a hard slipcase made of canvas and decorated paper to house an A5 book. This last activity is being offered for the first time in the long history of these workshops, which began at ABA Rome in 2012 and probably hold the record for the number of participants in a “hands-on” workshop rather than a purely theoretical one.
Participation entitles the student to 1 credit. Students will be provided with various materials and tools by the Academy, but they will also need to obtain some of the items required for their work. They will benefit from video and photographic support on screen. The creation of these binding prototypes and, therefore, book “assemblies”, will serve as a preparatory step for the artistic publishing project, which is already in the design phase for several students. The models will be presented at the examination together with other prototypes made during the lectures, alongside theoretical knowledge of the terminology, history and tools that underpin the conception of the “book” as a space for encounter and exchange between the visual and the textual.
Materials and tools on the Teams platform and on the website.