With the publication of In the Presence of Absence, Harriet Bart continues her exploration of memory and commemoration in contemporary art. Based on her installation of the same name, In the Presence of Absence is a book of pristine beauty. Conceptual in origin, formal in presentation, every detail serves to remind us of that which is absent. The text, a subtle prose poem written by Bart, evokes the themes of longing and absence. The poem is laser-cut into the pages, the words revealed only in the negative space of their absence.

The book is 240 pages (8 inches high by 6.25 inches wide) in twenty hand-sewn signatures. The text, set in stencil by Philip Gallo, was laser-cut into Italian Pergamenta by Preco Laser Systems.

The covers of the book are Pyrex, and the signatures are fastened to the glass by a goatskin spine attachment. The binding and its accompanying box were executed by Jill Jevne. Published by Mnemonic Press, Minneapolis 2002, in an edition of fifteen.