'Bookbed' was an installation that tapped "into the idea of the book and library in the collective imagination." The work was made up of three giant books and invited reading and writing groups, classes and workshops to book the space while also programming events that "explored learning, imagination and the book-as-symbol alongside current thinking in culture, education and public space" The three giant books were: The bed - complete with mattress and duvet cover pages, the bed featured an index of story titles culled from the series of creative writing workshops with young people held at the Peckham Library in London; A...
Hemingwrite: “The Kindle of writing composition”
Typewriter meet the 21st century. The Hemingwrite, one of 20 new hardware devices entered in the Engadget.com Insert Coin competition, is a prototype that is assured a bright future. What the Kindle did for reading, we want to do for writing,” said cofounder Patrick Paul of Hamtramck, Michigan. “Adam and I are huge fans of the simplicity of a typewriter but using one is tiresome and outdated. We set out to deliver the same distraction-free writing experience of a typewriter with all of the added benefits of modern technology: backups to the cloud, e-paper display, Cherry MX keyboard switches -- and nothing...
Women charged with arson for torching books at Tacoma library
She was a regular patron who was at the central branch of the Tacoma Public Library "virtually every day" with no history of trouble but on Saturday all that changed when she set fire to a shelf of books in the American History section. 250 people were evacuated. The suspect "admitted she had an issue with a library worker earlier in the day and admitted to wanting to burn down the library." And the books she chose to start the fire? Biographies of three recent Republican presidents; Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush. The library is scheduled to reopen tomorrow....
Good Morning Mr. Orwell Redux
The satellite's amplification of the freedom of the strong must be accompanied by the protection of the culture of the weak or by the creation of a diverse software skillfully bringing to life the qualitative differences in various cultures. – Nam June Paik, Art & Satellite (1984) On January 1, 1984 Nam June Paik celebrated the first day of the year that George Orwell predicted humans will finally be controlled by mass media by unveiling his piece Good Morning, Mr. Orwell. The installation, which gave birth to video art, was a satellite TV compilation showing the positive utilization of mass media...
Nicolas Grospierre’s Infinite Library
The Never-Ending Corridor of Books The Never-Ending Corridor of Books and the Never-Ending Wall of Books are two components of The Library project by Nicolas Grospierre. Both are installations comprised of photographs placed in light boxes and shown in mirrors to create the illusion of endlessness. The Library project is not the representation of a specific library, but rather an attempt at representing the very essence of the idea of a library. It is loosely inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’ novel The Library of Babel, where the author describes the universe as an “infinite and cyclic” library. The project is thus an attempt...