Paul Chan

February 20, 2013, 8:30am

How Paul Chan is Destroying Books

The idea of destroying books—literally and figuratively—never occurred to artist Paul Chan, until a couple of years ago. His ebook publishing company, Badlands Unlimited, was participating in the New York Art Book Fair, when an argument broke out in front of their booth. Two women were having a heated discussion about whether or not publishers like Chan's were destroying books. One of the women argued that the shift to electronic books was inevitable, while the other vehemently disagreed, declaring, "They are burning books!" Although not present at the fair himself, when Chan heard this story, he says a light bulb went off.