It still remains to be seen exactly how any prospective book arts show will pan out at the library regarding invigilation and security, and it still seems that the display will definitely be on the laying-on-a-table end of things. I got a chance to take a camera along and do a few shots to capture some of the mood of the place. It's a historic building with the usual accretions of later building most public institutions acquire after a few decades. The director's room which has been mooted as a prospective space to mount the show tells the same story the building tells. Its fabric largely intact, but stripped of many of its details, it sports a collection of bureaucratic semiotics and clutter.(Though, admittedly. often neccessary semiotics and clutter such as is the case with the fire escape notices and fire extinguishers.) Years of juggling collections around the building have meant that a pair of grey metal filing cabinets sit obstreperously astride one's field of vision. But it's still a fascinating room: there's still a strong resonance of the room's original purpose coexisting alongside its current undecided state as part of a briskly run institution. I wish it were possible to restore the room, but space is one thing this library doesn't have. I take the point, too, that it's a library, not a museum.
Anyway, here are some pictures. I think it's a fascinating place, and well worth putting some work into. At one time I wanted to develop a show that would have book artists responding to elements from the collections, but it proved too complex at the time. Perhaps something simpler as a pilot will help clear the way?
No comments:
Post a Comment