A body of knowledge: summer lectures

Discover the fascinating history of interactive printmaking with two expert speakers and create your very own interactive volvelle.

Have you ever seen a Renaissance pop-up book? Books and single-sheet prints with moving parts have been a part of the art of printmaking since its invention. This brief overview, 'Playing with Premodern Interactive Books', with Suzanne Karr Schmidt explores some of the most cleverly interactive European publications through several centuries, and demonstrates the experimental hands-on uses of dials, flaps and do-it-yourself printed scientific instrument kits.

Next join rare books and special collections librarian Katie Birkwood for The ‘Mirror of the Cosmos’: getting to grips with a volvelle'. Before the invention of GPS, online calendars, or even the humble wristwatch, there were devices that helped people to understand their time and place in the universe. A volvelle is a multi-layered rotating paper diagram, most commonly used to explain and illustrate the relationships between the heavens and the earth. In this interactive session, you’ll get to assemble and explore your own replica volvelle to take away with you. You’ll learn some of the historical background to its creation and the fundamentals of how it works.

Attendees will join us in person for the whole evening, Suzanne Karr Schmidt will be streamed live into the venue from Illinois for her talk, you will have a chance to explore exhibition 'A body of knowledge', and then you will get hands-on creating volvelles while exploring their fascinating history with Katie Birkwood. Both talks will be recorded and shared online after the event.