Absolut book

The absolute book

Is it possible to find a book containing all knowledge in the Universe?

The Absolute Book proposes us to explore different paths in this search that presents us with infinite alternatives that exceed human understanding.

Work based on two stories by Borges, The Library of Babel and The Book of Sand , fantastic stories that address the concepts of finitude and infinity.

The installation consists of an object, The Absolute Book , made up of hexagons whose sides represent a discipline and rotate on an axis. By rotating the hexagons, a series of combinations is chosen that trigger an internet search and generates a page related to the selected themes. The result of this search is displayed on a screen for a few seconds.

According to Borges’s account, the Universe (which others call the Library) is made up of an indefinite and perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries. Furthermore, like all the men in the Library, he has made a pilgrimage in search of a book, perhaps from the catalog of catalogs. There was no personal or world problem whose solution did not exist in some hexagon.

By turning the prisms of the piece, one becomes that librarian of the Library of Babel who goes through the hexagons looking for that total book, the Absolute Book.

The search result concludes in the generation of a page that turns out to be ephemeral. Information that cannot be accessed again disappears after a few seconds, just like in the Sand Book whose pages fade after being consulted.

Joaquín Fargas - Artist