Lost Volume: A Catalogue of Disasters (Signed) (Limited Edition) (1993)

Continues Cornelia Parker’s preoccupation with destruction. Following on from “Cold Dark Matter”, where – with the help of the British Army – Parker exploded a garden shed crammed with objects, “Lost volume: a catalogue of disasters” uses the intimate form of the book to present several flattened objects that – through the use of trompe-l’oeil – appear to have been squashed between the pages of the book. Parker crushes these selected objects in a press between sheets of heavy paper, creating embossed indentations and reducing the objects to two-dimensional representations of their former three-dimensional selves. The selected objects are seemingly unconnected ; a contents page that includes objects not flattened in the book confuses matters further. The book is perhaps best read as a way of seeing objects – and the world – in a new light.

Number 20 of only 30 signed and numbered copies, each featuring a unique flattened object, in this case, a small trophy. White boards with grey lettering to spine.  In original the publisher’s folded book box. Includes full-page photographs by Edward Woodman. Boards bear indentations and scuffs from the flattened object (as intended by the artist).