中文简介：

Dayanita Singh的书籍物品和便携式“博物馆”装置可以被看作对传统博物馆展览形式的挑战，开创了既是书籍、又是目录和展览的形式。本书追踪了Singh的图书旅程，从第一本《扎基尔·胡赛因》（1986年）到她新作《扎基尔·胡赛因·马凯特》（2019年），从想法到实物，展示了她的图书建筑过程，以及她如何创造性地在艺术界和其他地方传播它们。

这是Dayanita Singh对摄影书的宣言，既是一部简短的历史，也是一次深入的探索。以她与Steidl合作的作品为基础，我们见证了书转变为书籍物品的过程，打开了新的阐释空间。本书图文并茂地记录了Singh的13本书，以及几个DIY作品，详细说明了如何将她的书作为展览展示，让我们成为策展人。本书的核心是Dayanita Singh和Gerhard Steidl 20多年来建立的合作过程；相信一本书总是在建造的过程中。

英文简介：

Is it a book, an exhibition, a catalogue of the exhibition? Is it mass produced? Is it unique? Dayanita Singh is a book artist who stretches the imagination of what a book can be, transcending the spaces between publishing and art. Book Building traces the journeys of Singh's books, from the first, Zakir Hussain (1986), to her latest, Zakir Hussain Maquette (2019), showing the spectrum of her book-building process, from idea to material object and how she inventively circulates them in the art world and beyond.

Both a short history and a deep dive, this is Dayanita Singh's manifesto for the photobook. Taking those she has made with Steidl as a basis, we witness the transformation of books into book-objects which open up new interpretative spaces. Book Building documents Singh's 13 books in images and short texts, along with several DIYs Singh has created with detailed instructions on how to display her books as exhibitions―making us the curators―as well as various performative interventions, from book carts and happenings, to installations and tours. At the heart of Book Building is the collaborative process that Dayanita Singh and Gerhard Steidl have established over 20 years; the belief that a book is always in a process of becoming.