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MacCallum, Marlene: Home

Artists' Books

Marlene MacCallum

Marlene MacCallum
Art Library Rare Books Collection N 7433.4 .M25 S53 2019 box 18.1

"'Shadow: Incidental Music' is the third canto of the ongoing project Shadow, a book work variation on the long poem format. 'Incidental Music' presents itself initially as a straightforward codex but upon opening reveals a cascade of nested accordion-fold structures. Naturally occurring patterns of light and shadow create cyclical but transient intrusions into interior spaces. Sunlight progresses through the time and space of the pages with a brief shadow-play balancing-act performed mid-way through. The images hover over and almost obscure the poem and soundscape components quietly awaiting detection within the folds below. The poem rests within the base of the text accordion. It is a variation on the villanelle and cycles through psychological states. The blind embossed soundscape floats within the uppermost folds. It evokes subtle movements in a space so quiet that you can hear the most minute sound. Each component of the piece -- image, poems, folded structures -- exists independently and plays out its own rhythmic logic and integrity; a visual, poetic and material ostinati. The components complement each other by their shared manifestation of transitions. 'Incidental Music' bridges one scene to the next. In this piece, however, the interlude is the significant event; the condition of being the present."--Artist's statement from dealer blurb