Members of the Rutgers community and the general public are welcome to attend the 15th annual New Jersey Book Arts Symposium, on Friday November 6^th. The symposium will run from 8:30 am - 5:00 pm at the John Cotton Dana Library, on Rutgers-Newark campus.

In Ich und Du, usually translated as I and Thou, Martin Buber proposed that people address existence in two ways: that of the "I" towards an "It", towards an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience; and that of the "I" towards "Thou", in which we move into existence in a relationship without bounds. One of Buber’s major themes is that human life finds its meaningfulness in relationships. All of our relationships, Buber contends, bring us ultimately into relationship with God, who is the Eternal Thou.

Taking a secular inspiration from Martin Buber, the 2009 Book Arts Symposium will focus on the idea of the book as community, or how books and the ritualized book-making process inspire and support meaningful inter-personal relationships and identities that transcend simplistic, functionally or ideologically based social determination, that replace the cynicism of historical determinism with a cautious optimism.

Symposium ‘09 will look at the book in association with a range of different kinds of community, some of which include (1) artists working in or for a particular geographically or culturally defined community, (2) collaborative artists or communities of artists or book-workers, (3) and the international network of book artists that constitutes what anthropologist Victor Turner defined as "communitas": an unstructured community where all members are equal and in which there abides an intense community spirit.

Speakers at the 2009 symposium include:

• Sarah Stengle (Kaleidocycles workshop, 8:40 am)
• Karen Guancione, Project in Patzcuaro, Michoacan
• Esther Smith (The Paper Bridge: Wedding DIY from Pop-the-Question to Tie-The-Knot to Happily-Ever-After; lunch seminar, 1:00 pm)
• Judith Brodsky (Summation, 3:15 pm)
• Amanda Thackray ("I and Thou" exhibition opening, 3:30 pm)
• Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Pierchocki (Two Girls Working, 10:15 am)
• Margot Lovejoy, Ken Montgomery, Warren Lehrer, and Judith Sloan (Artists presentation, 11:15 am)

Registration fee — $45
(includes lunch at Stonsby Commons, Rutgers–Newark Campus)
Rutgers Faculty and Staff — $15

Note: Students may attend the symposium without charge, but must register beforehand by calling 973/353-5222

All checks should be made payable to:
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Send a note with your name, address, email, phone #, and Rutgers-affiliation, along with a check, to:

Registration Deadline: November 1, 2009
Limited Seating

For driving directions to the Rutgers-Newark campus, please see: http://www.newark.rutgers.edu/maps/index.php?sId=directions

For more information on the Book Arts Symposium, please contact symposium coordinator Michael Joseph at mjoseph@rci.rutgers.edu or 732/932-7006(x373).