Balzaculator: la Comédie Humaine as a binary system for Balzacolytes 

Angela Lorenz 

2013 CE, Bologna, Italy 

91 loose paper cards, laser printed and hand-marked color in archival ink, assembled in a canvas-covered portfolio held together with linen bookbinding threads 

N7433.4.L67 B35 2013 artists book 

Angela Lorenz’s artist book artfully displays meticulous data. The Balzaculator tracks the re-occurrence of characters in Honoré de Balzac’s series La Comédie Humaine (The Human Comedy).  When the “key card” is placed atop an individual “character card,” the many stories in which the character appears is revealed.

The Human Comedy was a project conceived by the prolific French writer, Honoré de Balzac. Created to provide a complete profile of contemporary society in nineteenth-century France, his project is comprised of 90 novels/novellas, and was created over eighteen years. Each detail of Lorenz’s artist book is a reference to Balzac’s intensive, relentless practices of writing and editing, while the eight strands of thread that open and close the book refer to the eight sections of the Comédie Humaine. 

Robin Morris