Talking pages: a geometry pop-up book

Watch and listen as Assistant Curator Catriona Gourlay handles a pop-up book in this ASMR video.

ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response – a pleasant tingling sensation beginning on the scalp and moving down the neck, which can be triggered by a delicate or satisfying auditory or visual experience.

Join Assistant Curator Catriona Gourlay inside the National Art Library as she introduces us to Elements of Geometry by Euclid – a pop-up artist's book created by Sjoerd Hofstra which illustrates principles of mathematics and geometry.

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Watch as she slides the book out of its case and gently turns the pages one-by-one, bringing the three-dimensional shapes to life. She also tells us about Euclid's Elements – the original text written in 300 BC that this book responds to – and walks us through the unique features of Sjoerd Hofstra's 1994 interpretation.

Book with white pages open on a table. A 3D cube structure made from paper pops up from the page
Elements of Geometry, artist’s book, made by Sjoerd Hofstra, published by ZET, 1994, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Library no. 38041995101904. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Header image: © Victoria and Albert Museum, London