The Open Book as sequence of events

When Welsh artist and curator Mary Husted met up with artist Ou Da Wei in Hong Kong in 2009 she was already fascinated by the folding and expanding books she had seen artists routinely use in mainland China as part of their practice. A subsequent visit to his art supplier saw her buy a whole batch of these blank concertina books, ideal for handing out to fellow artists during her travels. A delay of the planned exhibition, and additional books bought sent back to Wales, allowed several more to be passed between artists who then suggested others to include, until, when the first exhibition finally opened at The National Library of Wales in 2012, there were 16 artists in the show. These included ten from Wales, three from Hong Kong, two from Australia, G.W. Bot and Robin Wallace-Crabbe, and one from England. The exhibition, with considerable richness in colour, variety of style and content in the completed works, was given a uniformity of format by the standard silk-bound blank starting-point the artists all had in common.