University Libraries Announces Call for Entries for Ninth Altered Book Exhibition
Sponsored by the University Libraries Arts and Exhibits Committee, the exhibition features altered books—existing books transformed into works of art through physical, visual or conceptual modification. Artists may use books from any source and work in any medium.
“Established in 2009, the exhibition series has spanned nearly two decades. Formerly known as ‘Bound and Unbound: Altered Book Exhibition,’ the series has been renamed ‘Altered Book IX: Material, Structure, Concept,’” said committee member Sarah Hanson-Pareek ’98, program director for the Digital Imaging Lab, the Digital Library and Photographs at the University Libraries.
The new title reflects an intentional effort to broaden the scope of the exhibition and challenge artists and viewers alike to think as expansively as possible about the altered book as an artistic medium and format. Artists are invited to explore the ideas, questions, subjects, narratives, traditions, symbols and intentions that shape the transformation of the book.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome Taína H. Cruz as the juror for ‘Altered Book 9,’” said Hanson-Pareek. “Taína is a dynamic multidisciplinary artist who works across painting, drawing, sculpture, digital, and installation. We are fortunate to have an artist who is featured in the 2026 Whitney Biennial bring her perspective to this exhibition.”
Cruz is an American artist who lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut. Cruz creates immersive worlds in which the familiar becomes unstable and everyday experience slips into something more uncanny. Informed by growing up in New York and coming of age within networked image culture, her practice considers transformation and the shifting boundaries between physical and imagined worlds.
Cruz's paintings and a site-specific wall drawing were featured alongside her monumental billboard painting, “I Saw the Future and It Smiled Back,” installed across the street from the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Her recent exhibitions include “Greater New York” at MoMA PS1, New York (2026); the Whitney Biennial, New York (2026); the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2025); MMK Frankfurt (2025); and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin (2024). Cruz has presented solo exhibitions with Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin; Housing Gallery, New York; and Embajada, San Juan.
Entries for “Altered Book IX” are open to artists of all backgrounds and levels of experience. Artists may submit up to three entries by March 5, 2027. There is no entry fee. Selected works will be on display at USD’s University Libraries’ second-floor exhibition cases from Aug. 23, 2027, through Jan. 3, 2028.
All selected works will be entered into the altered book collection on the Digital Library of South Dakota website and the Digital Public Library of America website. A full prospectus and entry form for the exhibition can be found on the Libraries' website.
For more information, please contact Hanson-Pareek at [email protected].
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