It would have been something to behold. In 2004 Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn was invited to create a piece for the Walker Art Center 'Walker Without Walls' series.His idea: To build a 50 foot replica of the book A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia by the French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari.Inside the giant book there would be a library of philosophy books, room for all the things necessary to print a daily newspaper, and a meeting and exhibition space. Outside there would be a cafe.The installation was tentatively titled The Road-Side Giant Book Project and was scheduled to...
Bibliomulas: The Book Mules of Venezula
They pack up the mules and head to the remote areas of the country bringing books to the kids and adults. James Ingram of the BBC accompanies one such trek and recounts his experience in his piece Venezula's four-legged mobile libraries.They project was started by the University of Momboy, a small school that "prides itself on its community-based initiatives.""Spreading the joy of reading is our main aim" says Christina Vieras one of the project's leaders "But it's more than that. We're helping educate people about other important things like the environment. All the children are planting trees. Anything to improve...
Roethke Lives
The premier of David Wagoner's one-act play First Class opened last night at Seattle's A Contemporary Theatre (ACT).For Wagoner the play is a "remembrance of his friend and mentor, the legendary poet Theodore Roethke. In this world premiere, you’re a student in Roethke’s classroom. Why does art matter? When does genius become madness? And what does it mean to live a passionate life? Please discuss."Seattle actor John Aylward plays the lead and does so so convincingly that Wagoner says "he's absolutely channeling Roethke in many instances."Roethke is a legend around these parts. His time here in Seattle raised the literary...
The Seattle Central Library: The Perfect Public Space?
Linnie Rawlinson has a piece on CNN titled Seattle Central Library: Creating the Perfect Public Space in which she urges people looking for ways to make "public spaces outstanding" to look to Seattle and how it pulled off and executed the Libraries For All campaign in which it raised over $200 million to create and remodel 27 library branches. The crown jewel of the campaign being the Rem Koolhaas-designed Central Library."Seattle is a city of readers, but our library buildings were getting tired...they were not working, not big enough, not functional for the change in the way information is being...
Collector 2.0
Is everybody a collector? There is a new social networking site that's banking on it.Collectors' Quest believes everybody collects; "Our world is full of stuff and human beings are wild and creative enough to find ways to collect most anything," is how they put it."Collectors are passionate, enthusiastic, engaged but often disconnected" and their goal is to connect them.Their tagline: "Where Hunters Gather"Beside the usual social network components they are plugging CQTV "a broadband TV network that will open new avenues in interactivity, community, and commerce while redefining the business model for new digital programming."They have a seasoned top-tier management...