INFERNO illustrated Pop-up book

Inferno Pop-up book

Modern adaptation of Dante's Divina Commedia

Inferno of La Divina Commedia

After beginning of the third millennium, we have been facing huge confusion and excessive speed of changing the world. Furthermore, the advent of AI is on going and paradigm shift in the value of human labour will come soon. People need to re-establish ‘Humanism’ again by finding in the classics like Dante.

Facing the fourth industrial revolution, most of the people are alienated from new technologies and knowledge. Only capital, the intellectual, technology and a small number of intellects own and lead all these that marginalise other people in deeper. At this moment, we need to figure it out using by wisdom and think based on humanism. Only humanity like creativity could be substantial to make us human.

The work of Dante Alighieri

〈La Divina Commedia〉 is a classic book that’s one of the earlier work of between the end of the Middle Ages and Premodern, a time of big change. Especially Inferno is the most realistic and cubic part, about vice of human, that is able to be compared to modern-day in viewpoint on society and politics. Above all, the work of grotesque fantasy by human reason inspires our imagine. We can get insight from the old narrative poem from the period of Renaissance Humanism at this point in time.

There is a problem people avoid classics like Dante’s works because those are difficult to read. I want to change the situation, so I planned to produce Inferno a picture book that can help people to be curious and reach to classics. Non-text pop-up illustrated book Inferno is created to prevent error on short formed versions. I also conceived a book of drawn sculptures with an interpretation of classics on the contemporary view. In that way reveals the multidimensional, architectural aspect and dynamic point of Dante’s hell easily and compels readers to be active to take a part of it. Therefore the possibility of readers’ involved would be a chance to acquire inspiration and to probe humanism.

Ideation

Re-interpretation is done by modern adaptation. Work on the exact way of Dante’s age would make people bored and be meaningless try that also could be just a copy of great masterpieces. Contemporary picture book Inferno is roughly a book of the journey, but somehow it’s a real world of a condensed version. In the beginning, one workman in the crowded megalo-city was falling asleep on the metro and next moment he rushed out to get off the train. There was an abandoned underground shopping centre that was totally ruined and he lost his way. In the middle of dream and reality, one person’s unclear consciousness and sight make people of today’s convinced more. It’s a nightmare of a contemporary man who is restricted self-expression and a little paralysed.

Sketches