[2,3]
Edition of 1,000 signed and numbered (plus 100 proofs), 2011; held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
![[2,3] — Tauba Auerbach (co-published with Printed Matter)](/images/paper/tauba-auerbach-2-3/g0.jpg)
Lead with the title: [2,3] is the mathematical notation for the open interval between two and three — and that is exactly what this object animates, the passage from a flat plane into a freestanding solid. Six paper sculptures that rise up to eighteen inches tall and then fold dead flat again. A pop-up book, yes, but engineered for grownups and built around an idea most picture books never attempt.
The story
The record says: [2,3] was made in 2011 by the artist Tauba Auerbach, co-published with Printed Matter in New York. Auerbach designed and engineered every pop-up herself — production was coordinated by Garrick Gott and the work was manufactured by Toppan Excel (Hong Kong) Limited. Printed Matter framed it as representing "an advance in the field of pop-up technology," and that is not loose marketing: the object grew directly out of Auerbach's standing preoccupation with perception and dimension. In her own words, "I probably think about higher spatial dimensions more than any other aspect of my practice." The title borrows interval notation from mathematics — [2,3] denotes the open span between two and three — to stage the move from the two-dimensional page into three-dimensional form. The set was issued in a signed and numbered edition of 1,000, plus 100 proofs. The unboxing was filmed by director Sam Fleischner and circulated through NOWNESS and the art press, which did a great deal to build the work's reputation. Provenance footnote that matters for any collector: the edition sold out despite its size and cost, and much of the print run was subsequently destroyed when Printed Matter's storage flooded during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 — which is why surviving copies are genuinely scarce on the secondary market. The work now lives in The Museum of Modern Art, New York, where the complete piece and several individual sculptures (Pyramid, Sphere, Ziggurat, the arc form, Gem, and Möbius) are cataloged as separate accessioned objects; it is also held by the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
What makes this one special
Here is what sets [2,3] apart, and where to look. It is not a sequential book you read — it is a portfolio of six separate slim hardcover die-cut folios, each bound in differently colored boards, housed together in a specially designed cloth slipcase. Each folio measures 20 by 32 inches when open. Open one and a single page rises into a freestanding geometric solid, some up to 18 inches tall, then collapses totally flat when the folio closes — the full lineage of the movable book put to conceptual work. The six forms are drawn from a deliberate vocabulary of geometry: the pyramid, the sphere, the ziggurat, the octagonal bipyramid (the "gem"), the arc, and the Möbius strip. The publisher's own copy describes each page as opening "into a beautifully constructed object, intricately conceived so that the large-scale paper works — some up to 18 inches tall — can be collapsed totally flat." What makes it remarkable is the marriage of rigorous paper engineering to a real idea: Auerbach deploys a technique normally reserved for children's books to dramatize how creatures who live in three dimensions might intuit a fourth. The result reads, in the publisher's phrasing, as "part bookwork and part sculpture" — six oversized objects rather than pages to be turned in order.
Why people love it
Collectors and critics agree on one practical point: this is an object you keep open. Carey Dunne, writing for Hyperallergic, called it "an oversized pop-up book called [2,3] that contains six die-cut, geometric paper sculptures," and observed that it "looks like something you'd want to leave open as a shape-shifting display instead of keeping it collapsed on a bookshelf." Kate Sierzputowski at Colossal noted the engineering that makes that possible — "the project folds neatly into its own custom sleeve and contains six separate paper sculptures that spring to life when opened." And what people return to is the idea underneath the craft. Auerbach has asked, of the work's central concern, "As creatures that operate in three dimensions, what capacity do we have to conceive of a dimension that's beyond, or even coiled within, the space that we experience?" The affection is for that double nature — a thing you can hold and fold, built around a question you cannot quite hold at all.
“As creatures that operate in three dimensions, what capacity do we have to conceive of a dimension that's beyond, or even coiled within, the space that we experience?”— Tauba Auerbach, quoted in 'Tauba Auerbach's Peripheral Visions,' Art in America (interview)
“I probably think about higher spatial dimensions more than any other aspect of my practice.”— Tauba Auerbach, 'Tauba Auerbach's Peripheral Visions,' Art in America
“It's an oversized pop-up book called [2,3] that contains six die-cut, geometric paper sculptures.”— Carey Dunne, 'Tauba Auerbach Sculpts a Pop-Up Book for Grownups,' Hyperallergic
“[2,3] looks like something you'd want to leave open as a shape-shifting display instead of keeping it collapsed on a bookshelf.”— Carey Dunne, 'Tauba Auerbach Sculpts a Pop-Up Book for Grownups,' Hyperallergic
“The project folds neatly into its own custom sleeve and contains six separate paper sculptures that spring to life when opened.”— Kate Sierzputowski, 'A Sculptural Geometric Pop-Up Book by Tauba Auerbach,' Colossal
Tips & little secrets
- Treat each folio as the display unit. The forms are designed to stand on their own — open one folio fully on a flat surface or a deep shelf and let the single sculpture be the object on view. The press consensus is to keep it open, not collapsed.
- Mind the scale before you choose a spot. Each folio opens to 20 by 32 inches and the tallest sculptures reach about 18 inches — these need real horizontal depth and overhead clearance, not a standard 12-inch bookshelf.
- Return everything to the slipcase for storage and transport. The set was built to fold flat and nest into its specially designed cloth slipcase; the flat-folding engineering is the protective mechanism, so use it.
- Open and close along the folds the engineering already gives you — let the structure do the work and resist forcing or reshaping the paper by hand, since each form is conceived to collapse completely flat on its own.
- If you rotate which form is on display, swap folios rather than leaving one perpetually open; the six bound in different colored boards make a natural rotation, and resting each between showings is gentler on large die-cut paper.
The honest verdict
- Genuine museum provenance — held by The Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, with individual sculptures separately accessioned at MoMA.
- A rare case of advanced paper engineering wedded to a real conceptual premise: the title's interval notation and the 2D-to-3D rise are one idea executed precisely.
- Six oversized, distinct objects in one slipcased set — it functions as both bookwork and sculpture, and is built to display open or fold dead flat for storage.
- Genuinely scarce. The edition sold out and much of the print run was destroyed in the 2012 Hurricane Sandy flood of Printed Matter's storage, so surviving copies are hard to find.
- It is large and demanding to live with — 20-by-32-inch folios and sculptures up to 18 inches tall need dedicated flat space, which makes casual handling and display less practical than its picture-book lineage suggests.
An honest assessment: [2,3] is one of the more successful artist's pop-ups of its generation precisely because the craft and the concept are the same gesture. Auerbach engineered all six forms herself, the publisher's "advance in the field of pop-up technology" claim is earned, and the museum accessioning confirms it is taken seriously as sculpture, not novelty. The catch is entirely external — scarcity and scale. If you can find one and you have the room to show it open, it rewards that commitment; it is not a book you shelve and forget.
Worth it for collectors of artist's books and paper engineering who have the space to display it open — a museum-held object where the idea and the craft are inseparable; the only real barriers are scarcity and size.
- Carey Dunne, writing for Hyperallergic under the headline 'Tauba Auerbach Sculpts a Pop-Up Book for Grownups,' positioned the work as an artist's pop-up for adults and observed that it 'looks like something you'd want to leave open as a shape-shifting display instead of keeping it collapsed on a bookshelf' — a note on display that doubles as praise for its sculptural presence. — Carey Dunne, 'Tauba Auerbach Sculpts a Pop-Up Book for Grownups,' Hyperallergic
- Kate Sierzputowski at Colossal emphasized the engineering, describing how 'the project folds neatly into its own custom sleeve and contains six separate paper sculptures that spring to life when opened' — framing the flat-folding design and the six discrete forms as the work's signature achievement. — Kate Sierzputowski, 'A Sculptural Geometric Pop-Up Book by Tauba Auerbach,' Colossal
- Printed Matter's own publisher copy makes the strongest claim for the object's significance, calling it 'an astonishing art-object, part bookwork and part sculpture' that 'represents an advance in the field of pop-up technology' — language reproduced verbatim across the catalog listing. — Printed Matter publisher copy, reproduced across the Printed Matter catalog listing and the artistsbooksandmultiples.blogspot.com record
The questions everyone asks
Made by Tauba Auerbach (co-published with Printed Matter). Prices and stock shift, so we re-check often — the button takes you straight to the maker.
Researched + written by Margo, 2026-06-11. 7 sources on file.
