Chancebooks (2013)
Chancebooks is a publishing-on-demand experiment using Wikipedia and chance operations. Each Chancebook is a one-of-a-kind assemblage of up to 100 randomly pulled articles from Wikipedia. The selection and sequence of content is generated in real-time as I repeatedly click the “random article” button that appears on all Wikipedia pages, and add each individual page to the book. The total number of articles is determined by pulling a random number (1–100) at random.org.
The title is selected from the list of article titles.
Only one copy of each Chancebook exists, printed on-demand and delivered to me. The book’s design is automated and determined by the print-on-demand service. Included within each book are my location and exact date and time of the book’s creation.
Chancebook #1 (Why Does It Hurt So Bad) [39 articles] was created in Long Island City, New York, USA at 2:29pm on March 26, 2013 and delivered on March 29, 2013. The only printed copy in the edition is now in the artists’ books collection at MoMA Library, included as part of MoMA’s acquisition of Library of the Printed Web.
Chancebook #2 (Livin’ on the Fault Line) [86 articles] was created in Long Island City, New York, USA at 12:49pm on May 3, 2013 and delivered on May 8, 2013.
Each book in series—
Digital print-on-demand
Edition of 1 (unique copy)
Perfect binding
5.5 in. x 8.5 in.
Variable pages
