This article was first published in the October 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Kelli Anderson wants paper to teach us about the world. The Brooklyn-based artist's This Book is a Planetarium is a publication with a twist: its pages morph into a planetarium, an amplifier and even a (functioning) guitar.
For Anderson, 33, these contraptions are more than origami. "There's a lot of info we know second-hand," she says. "We know that sound is caused by vibration. In my book there's a contraption you can amplify the sound with. It's about being able to touch and do things you have been told about."
Anderson has also used paper to explore the human body, create a forest featured in a stop-motion video, and build a record player. It took her a year to design the book's six mechanisms, some of which were particularly challenging. "The guitar was hard: the elasticity of the strings made the book close," she says. Anderson is already working on more pop-up paper creations. "I came up with about 20 ideas," she says. "I didn't want to make the book too thick." WIRED has never felt so one-dimensional.
This Book is a Planetarium will be published in 2016 kellianderson.com
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
