Reading Room for One August 27, 2014 – Posted in: Books and Art, books in design, Content, Installation, Interior Design, Library Architecture

For the 2013 Lisbon Architecture Triennale artist Marta Wengorovius teamed with architect Francisco Aires Mateus to produce this little slice of paradise; a reading cabin for one. The simple wood structure is fit for one person, holds one bookshelf and has a raised seating area and that’s it. It is light by a skylight. The artist populated the bookshelf by asking 20 guests to choose three books each for the library. “Sharing this itinerant project creates a…

Future Library: Publication date 2114 August 13, 2014 – Posted in: Art, Conceptual Art, Content, Installation

Scottish artist Katie Paterson is a patient women. Her current project Future Library will take 100 years to consummate! You heard right; a century from inception to completion. Here’s the deal: A forest has been planted in Norway, which will supply paper for a special anthology of books to be printed in one hundred years time. Between now and then, one writer every year will contribute a text, with the writings held in trust, unpublished, until…

Holy Robot: Exhibit features robotic rendering of the Torah July 14, 2014 – Posted in: Books and Technology, Content, Exhibits, Installation

“The Creation of the World. Illustrated Manuscripts from the Braginsky Collection,” currently on view at the Berlin Jewish Museum features both a robot and a rabbi transcribing the torah. The yet unnamed Torah-writing robot comes to us courtesy of the German artists’ group robotlab. The installation is titled”bios [torah]” and: refers to the activity of Torah writing performed in the Jewish tradition by a specially trained scribe, the Sofer. While the Sofer guarantees the sanctity of the Scripture, the…

The Book Architecture of Thomas Ehgartner June 15, 2014 – Posted in: Books and Art, Conceptual Art, Installation

It took 8,000 books for Thomas Ehgartner to complete his 2006 installation “Meaning minus truth conditions”at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Completed for his senior project the piece also included two computer-generated voices that recited content from Wikipedia and Project Gutenberg. For Ehgartner the current state of information overload that permeates much of our waking life becomes the foundation for creating a “limited archive from a infinite whole.” and check out his follow up to the above,…

The British Library: A 10,000 book installation by British-Nigerian artist tackles immigration May 13, 2014 – Posted in: Exhibits, Installation

As part of this year’s HOUSE, Brighton’s festival of visual art and domestic space Yinka Shonibare MBE has created The British Library, a 10,000 book installation exploring the impact of immigration on British culture. The work, co-commissioned by HOUSE and the Brighton Festival, makes its home in the confines of the Old Reference Library at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. The books are all bound in Shonibare’s trademark African Dutch wax batik fabric and are housed in the…