What Is a Conceptual Book?
A conceptual book is a book where the concept behind the object is the point. The content may be minimal or even empty — what matters is the idea the book expresses by existing.
Conceptual art and the conceptual object
Conceptual art (Sol LeWitt, Joseph Kosuth, Marcel Duchamp) proposed that the idea behind a work of art is as important — or more important — than its physical execution. A conceptual artwork can be a certificate of ownership of an invisible sculpture, a set of instructions for a performance that may or may not be executed, or a signed urinal presented as sculpture. The concept is the work.
Conceptual books
Applied to books: a conceptual book is one whose concept is communicated immediately, before or without reading. You understand the book from its cover, its title, its page count or its material properties. The content, if present, confirms the concept rather than delivering it through reading.
The Archive as conceptual object
The Archive's books are conceptual books. EW, UGH, LOL, YIKES and MEH communicate their concepts immediately: one word, 261 pages, genre subtitle, author name. The reader understands the book before reading it. Reading confirms what the cover already communicated. They are simultaneously novelty objects, literary experiments and conceptual art — and gag gifts. See: EW · UGH · LOL · YIKES · MEH.
Frequently asked questions
What is a conceptual book?
A conceptual book is one where the idea behind the object is the primary experience — you understand the book from its form, title and structure before or without reading it.
Are Archive books conceptual art?
They can be read as conceptual objects — books where the concept (one word, 261 pages, literary genre) communicates immediately without reading. They are also novelty gifts and absurdist literary experiments.
Related in the Archive
Conceptual Comedy · Books That Are the Joke · Experimental Literature · One-Word Books