Disrupted, and how
Looped
Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
Presented in partnership with State Library Victoria
Friday 4th August – Sunday 26th November, 2017
Extended indefinitely (2026)
La Trobe Reading Room
State Library Victoria
We have recently received a few questions about our missing book beneath the dome from those curious as to where the work has gone. (In mid 2017, we installed our Looped series of artists’ books, of which Disrupted and rumpled was a part of, in the dais at State Library Victoria (SLV).)
Such a beautiful central location! We’d thought the greatest threat to our artists’ books, on loan in our Looped display, was light. Sadly, it turns out the greatest threat was a member of the public launching themselves at the heritage listed dais for a selfie, at an after-hours speed dating event in late April.
As the glass of the lid to the cabinet broke, so, too, did the artists' book beneath it, an edition of the aptly titled, it transpires, Disrupted and rumpled. The shards of glass cut and scratched every section of the concertina and the base on which it rested. Damaged beyond repair, we have been shocked that such a thing could occur. The limited edition was one of five artists’ books displayed on custom-made collage scenic bases created especially for SLV. We remain absolutely stunned and ultimately dismayed that such a thing could transpire. The stuff of fiction, surely, in a safe haven for the curious.
Pictured here, alongside installation memories from 2017, looking at the broken glass of the dais, after our damaged artists’ book was removed, on the 6th of May, 2026, and removing the collage trapezoid-shaped base, once the new glass was in place on the 9th of June, 2026.
A loose Looped history
An installation where each glass-panelled cabinet case around the domed reading room’s original heritage dais becomes a page. Together, five artists’ books read as one tale told through collage and the written word.
I think all the world is falling
No longer six feet under
Disrupted and rumpled
Dim wood, spark bright
and
A warmed pebble in my hand
Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison, 2017
Five 8-page, concertina bound artists’ books. Inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm, with covers mounted on gold-trimmed board, housed in a printed slipcase on 225gsm Buffalo board. Printed by Arten (covers, pages) and Bambra Press (slipcases). Each an edition of 6, with an artists’ proof.
Looped sparked several zines, from pocket-sized editions of the artists’ books (in 2018) to A whisker lighter, which was freely available during the original dates of the exhibition, from Friday 4th August to Sunday 26th November, 2017.
Looped was originally a satellite exhibition to Self-made: zines and artist books, of which our work was also a part of, a travelling SLV exhibition which began in the Blue Rotunda, Cowen Gallery, State Library Victoria in 2017, and toured regionally until 2020.
As part of Self-made: zines and artist books, you could see:
A Deck of Salvaged Relatives
Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison, 2015
Gentlemen from a deck of Salvaged Relatives
Gracia Haby, 2015
Gentlewomen from a deck of Salvaged Relatives
Gracia Haby, 2015
A company of parrots
Louise Jennison, 2015
Image credit: Bates, Peebles & Smart, architects, The Public Library Museums and National Galleries of Victoria. New Reading Room and Stack Rooms Etc, Section A B of the Domed Reading Room, 1909, Architectural drawings collection, H2010.69/5.
