South Korean artist Airan Kang has taken an illuminated and novel approach by using LED lights to create a dynamic, colorful homage to the written word. These book doubles as a flashlight for late-night reading. These 109 electronically luminescent sculptures are actually made from transparent synthetic resin lined with light emitting diodes that cause them to glow from within and do not contain any actual text. LEDs shift, fade and pulsate as you admire the display, creating an astounding display of eye-candy proving that books can be equally beautiful on the outside as they are on the inside. The color, intensity and pattern of light of these LED books can be controlled via a switch on the side of each piece.
Instead of creating precise replicas of the books, she appropriated key elements from the cover art, and added scrolling quotations from the book across the cover using LEDs. Each sculpture is intended to remove “the association with the object as an actual book, asking the viewer to contemplate the subject matter conveyed by the book’s title.” Called “Light Reading”, Airan Kang has also furthers her Digital Book Project in 2010 through Collective Design Fair at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in New York. If you are willing to add some of Kang’s unconventional LED books to your library, be warned that they are bit costly than a regular book. Each one rings in at about $6,500.
