This book is the documentation of a project by English artist Simon Starling in the Ateliergebouw of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Starling built three exact copies of a 17th century sculpture of Atlas by Artus Quellinus I, then deliberately dropped them to the ground, where they smashed into pieces. These pieces were carefully collected, the sculptures fully restored and then exhibited in the restoration building of the Rijksmuseum.
Design concept: The book is designed in two parts: construction and reconstruction. Following the pages on the right only, the first part starts with the creation of the replicas and ends just a split second before the dropping takes place. Following this ‘turning point’ by turning the book upside down, and continuing to read the pages on the right only, it documents the entire reconstruction and also reads from the end back to the beginning.
