This seminar introduces students to current debates around materiality and mediality as they relate to the book. Rather than treating books simply as containers for text, we will examine how their physical, material qualities shape reading experience and meaning. The course situates these questions within broader discussions in cultural, media, and literary studies, offering a framework for thinking about both printed and digital forms.

We will begin by clarifying key concepts (medium, mediality, materiality) before turning to approaches such as the material turn, performative materiality, and digital materiality. These perspectives will help us consider how books act, behave, and function as objects and interfaces.

Sessions will combine theoretical grounding with practical observation. Through presentations, collective readings, and hands-on exercises, students will analyze how specific book designs use material choices—paper, binding, printing, typography—and interprete how these participate in meaning-making.

Throughout the seminar, students will be encouraged to apply this to both historical examples and to their own design practices, developing a more reflective, material-sensitive approach to working with (and making) books.