As works of art, the books of Rasika are a window into the unrepeatable – real presence. They communicate not only as texts, but also as objects, objects that you hold and interact with, that change with time and that you can build a relationship with. They embody the essence of Rasika’s message and its wish for a reinvigoration of culture by means of material culture.

Words have lost their aura. First they were only spoken, from memory or spontaneously, and were inseperable from the speaker’s presence. Then they were written down and words were no longer tied their speaker’s presence. For centuries, books were priceless objects. Not only were the words preserved in them of great value, as the record of speech worth preserving, but they were painstakingly crafted as objects in themselves: copied by hand and bound by hand, the labour of hundreds of hours. Though the words were no longer tied to the speaker’s presence, they were still anchored in the book’s presence.

This began to change with the arrival of the printing press. Now books could be reproduced on a larger scale and their value was reduced. Less energy was put into individual copies and more into producing a large volume of them. Then with industrialisation came true mass production, further devaluating books as objects, reducing them to merely practical containers of information. Finally, texts became digitised and physical reproduction of them effectively unnecessary. They are now infinitely available, without need of a physical presence.

The even more radical change we are witnessing now is that not only can texts be reproduced infinitely, they can also be produced by artificial intelligence on an equally infinite scale. First, the value of the books that contain texts was reduced to nothing, and now we are seeing a mechanisation of the writing process that is likely to undermine the value of text itself.

It is similar to the industrialisation of textile production. Fabric was once so valuable it could be used as currency, like gold and silver. Producing it required great skill and much time. Now it requires no skill, only machines, and the speed of its production far outstrips the need for it. Consequently, the value of fabric has been reduced to nearly nothing.

Text is not the same as textile and the evolution of its place in society is likely to take a different course, but it is evident that we find ourselves in a new era. We have to find new ways to reimbue books and their texts with value and meaning. This is not a practical endeavour. All the technical difficulties in reproducing texts have long been resolved. It is a poetic endeavour, an attempt to give words new power.

The books created by Rasika are not merely containers of information. They are art objects in themselves that communicate as much as the text does. They embody what the text speaks of, just as people, if they are honest, embody what they speak of.