Near the border with France lay the small Swiss village of Romainmotier. A community of under 500 people primarily noted for its Romanesque Abbey. However, it is that church and art associated with it that takes books from the shelves and creates works of arts.
Annually Romainmotier holds a book fair that finds used homes for used or older books. However, when books go unsold, they then end up in the hands of Swiss artist Jan Reymond. Each year Reymond creates all new pieces of book art in and around the Romanseque church at the center of this small hamlet. With every passing festival Reymond’s work grows and becomes more complex.
Here are a few years of Reymond’s works at Romainmotier.
Now, in addition to the work at Romainmotier, here is a glimpse of Reymond’s workshop (note the ceiling light made from a book, as well as the furniture.)
And in case you are interested, the next Romainmotier book festival and 24 Hours of Reading takes place in September of this year.
What do you think of Reymond’s work? Should we have similar art installations associated with the many book fairs and festivals around the United States? Or is there a comparable culturally rich small community here?
All Jan Reymond photos are sourced to the Flickr account of photographer Timtom- http://www.flickr.com/photos/timtom/
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