Abstract

In partnership with New York City’s Center for Book Arts (CBA), the Fall 2024 Advanced Projects in Digital Humanities course at Pratt Institute’s School of Information developed a constellation of data-driven projects highlighting the CBA’s collection and the field of artists’ books. The project explores the collections, exhibitions, and institutional history of the CBA through analysis of data the CBA has collected across its 50 year history, spotlighting the institution in order to cultivate interest in its collections and in books as art. Given the CBA’s role as a museum, archive, and working studio, the overall project aims to connect with people across its community. Books as Art, Art as Data embraces digital humanities methodologies to further the CBA’s mission of democratizing the powerful medium of the book.

Books as Art, Art as Data is housed in a website that serves as a portal to all the other elements of our project: a timeline of the CBA’s exhibition history; an exploration of the relationships between the collection items; a narrative exploring the institution’s history in NYC as it has moved; and a network exploring book arts methods and terms. In addition, the project provides resources for students and scholars looking to do further research, including a map of other artists’ book collections in the US and Canada, the underlying data from the project, and documentation of our process.

Project Website

Individual Projects

  • 50 Years of CBA: A Data Timeline
    • Interactive timeline tool to explore the data from the Center for Book Arts for 50 years.
  • The Binding Threads of New York
    • Exploring the connections that weave together the fabric of New York City, one story at a time.
  • Process Blog and Documentation
    • A series of blog posts containing interviews documenting challenges the team faced across the project
  • Binding it all Together
    • Tools and resources, including a zine which document the project’s process or relate to the website design.
  • Names of Names
    • Exploring the connections of the field of an artist’s book and its influence with text, in this case, its subject categories
  • Bookization: The CBA’s Fine Art Collection Data as Book Art
    • A project using data analysis and book-making to investigate the contours of the Center for Book Arts’ Fine Art collection as it is represented on the CBA’s website. The resulting data physicalization highlights connections and similarities between objects, missing data, and the language used to represent the objects in a digital space.
Maddy Casey

Maddy Casey

Maddy Casey is a Masters of Library and Information Science student (graduating Spring 2025). She particularly enjoys exploring digital preservation, metadata, and critical data literacy. Her interest in library science is driven by a passion for ethically making information accessible, engaging, and the opportunities information science presents in service of that goal. She is also interested in making the labor of digital work visible, and exploring the ethical implications of the ways in which information is constructed.
Maddy Casey

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Darcy Krasne

Darcy Krasne

Darcy Krasne holds a Ph.D. in Classics (UC Berkeley, 2011) and is completing the M.S. in Data Analytics and Visualization at the Pratt Institute School of Information, with advanced certificates in Digital Humanities and Spatial Analysis & Design.
Darcy Krasne

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Alison Long

Alison Long

Alison(Fengqi) Long is a graduate student in the Data Analysis and Visualization program at Pratt Institute. She experiments with creative and intimate approaches to data representation through graphic design, interactive media, and storytelling.
Alison Long

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Stephanie Naut

Stephanie Naut

Stephanie is a Master of Library and Information Science student interested in working with digital humanities research and special collections. She explores the possibility of using Digital Humanities as an alternative research method, preservation, and accessibility. Her projects focus on data visualization, exhibitions, and digital environmental humanities. Outside of their studies, Stephanie is a bookseller and an avid reader.
Stephanie Naut

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Nene Villalobos

Nene Villalobos

Nene Villalobos is an artist and researcher interested in the quiet tension between solitude and systems. Their work explores how data sets especially those tied to logistics, ecology, and infrastructure can become material for personal, poetic, and often speculative visual narratives. With a background in library science and fine arts, Nene is currently learning to use code as a new creative outlet, seeking ways to transform cold numbers into intimate artifacts. Whether working with maps, spreadsheets, or glitches, they are always asking how information can be felt as much as it is known.
Nene Villalobos

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