Darius Ou – CORPUS

CORPUS is a 3D-printed work that takes the form of a single-edition book, conceptualised, designed, and printed by graphic designer Darius Ou. This eponymous publication is a reproduction of that original work — a photocopied, bootleg-like reproduction that is also designed on its own terms.

As a word that means both a dead body and a body of text, CORPUS is a response to the over-mentioned 'print is dead' catchphrase and questions what this means for non-traditional printing practices like 3D printing. Does 'print' here refer to the method or material? Would a 3D-printed book then be considered dead even before it has a chance to live?

This non-3D-printed edition paradoxically imagines the pre-existence or before-life of CORPUS, which in the author’s words, explores the relationship between materiality and mortality, dimensionality and causality, and the afterlife of the codex.

102 pages, 15.5 x 21.4 cm, paperback, Temporary Press (Singapore).