ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [12 August 2010]

 ‘Add to my Library’, reflects linear processes of collective narratives into an open active space. This is inspired by Walter Benjamin’s writing ‘Unpacking my library’ where traditional processess of collection are deployed. The project is the living library that harbours a number of physical book like creations from fringe areas. My intention is to question contemporary notions of ‘selves’ and ‘others’ and to open a path to sense alterity while questioning  the internet coded language.

 In ‘Add to my Library’ I attempt to confront the viewer with an array of wondrous and humorous meditations on materiality through visual transmissions, from banal to the monumental.

Deconstructing my Library.Pages from my antique book collection have been removed from their covers and meticulously reorganised and rebound as many, now transformed into objects that defy there original form. The coverless books are folded together to create an intrinsically infinite organic structure that begins to approach a painting or drawing.

 How does their significance take on a greater meaning in the disruption of conventional readings? Does the actual documentation of the process construct a new project?

# 2 [13 August 2010]

Researching about  ancient Library of Alexandria for the last few months........ Re -Constructing a floor plan for ADD TO MY LIBRARY......

The ancient library of Alexandria has a notorious history related to its disappearance. It is said to have fallen victim to fire, earthquakes, floods and neglect.

The ancient library and Mouseion was begun in the 3rd Century BC by Ptolemy I and served the city and the school of Alexandria. It is believed to have contained anywhere from 200,000 to 700,000 scrolls. The library served well-known classical scholars such as Archimedes, Euclid, Heropholus, Erastothenes, Hypatia, Callimachus, Aristarchus, Heron and Theocritus, among others. It is not clear if the library was the largest in the world at the time however it was clearly considered the most important based upon its influential collection of both scholars and scrolls. The Septuagint, the earliest Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew, is among the many important publications of the ancient library. The original appearance, size and extent of the building or buildings of the ancient library remain unknown. It is likely that the architectural style of the building or buildings was Greek and was probably located somewhere in the area of the new library.

The disappearance of the ancient library remains a mystery and no specific date can positively be attributed to the complete disappearance of the ancient institutions.

During the course of nearly 2000 years the ancient library has maintained mythological status as an institution of world culture. In 1974 the President of the University of Alexandria, Dr. Mohamed Lotfi Dowidar first suggested reviving the Alexandria Library. The Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education adopted this idea and later the General Organization of the Alexandria Library (GOAL) was developed to implement the project.

Archeological excavations were carried out on the site prior to construction to a depth of approximately 6 meters starting in 1994 by a team of international, mainly Polish, experts. No remnants of the existing library were specifically found. However, two precious Greco-Roman mosaic floors were uncovered, probably residential, and will be incorporated into the museum area of the new building. Additionally several sophisticated Roman design drainage channels were uncovered pointing to the existence of well-designed classical structures on the site.

ADD THIS TO MY LIBRARY!

# 3 [14 August 2010]

Form Dictates Function

My fascination with material (board, paper, papyrous,old books )and form derives here.............

Throughout most of the library's history, the term "book" referred to works written on papyrus and some parchment rolls. Beginning in the second century, stacked and bound wooden boards recorded literature, science, and technical information. These tablets, called codex, derived from a centuries-old practice of using wooden writing tablets for notetaking. These new, durable codices gradually replaced the fragile rolls. However, rolls continued to be used for archival-type documents. Parchment eventually replaced the wooden boards.

The new codex form impacted book storage. Codices were stored flat on the shelf and covers protected their leaves. The libraries had to find ways to house both rolls and codices.

New libraries emerging in the Middle Ages in churches, schools, and monasteries concerned themselves only with the codex form.

# 4 [15 August 2010]

I have started constructing a Floor Plan for my Library influenced by the structure of the old Alexandrina Library , other ancient Libraries and comparing it with contemporary public Libraries build nowdays. The Library of Alexandria by the time of Ptolemy III there were two libraries, the major one, and a daughter library located in the sanctuary of the temple to the god Serapis.These were not 'lending' libraries as we known them in today, but rather, places where scrolls could be stored and where people could come to study them. Thus, these libraries consisted of large central rooms where scholars could read, and smaller ante-rooms, or even niches where the scrolls were kept (images found below.

LIGHT /SPACE /Education

During my MA studies I studied in some of the world’s most renowned libraries, such as the inspiring library of the British Museum,where supposedly the dream and the horror of communism was born, or the much smaller but significant library of Chelsea College of A&D. Their difference in size was immense, but there was a common denominator shared by almost all the classical style libraries: that was their dark atmosphere, spot lights only, hardly any sound, only whispering, visually you were surrounded by stacks of mostly leather bound books. You were meant to be glued to your seat over your book. One had the feeling of being in a monastic setting with editions of the Bible, the Greek tragedies and other heavy volumes of sacred wisdom and Art. Libraries were conceived as castles of learning, education and ancient wisdom, as if education by default had to be directed backwards. And above all, the seriousness.The results of this sterile and serious paradigm of human learning, whether in  Oxford, or Harvard  ultimately sanctioned by the “religions of the book” from 2000 to 2500 years ago and not derived from “religions of personal experience”, are not encouraging: Seems the 20th and 21st century was the bloodiest in human history.

 Shall we build completely new institutions for educationincluding libraries?.  we need freedom from religion, from all socalled “divine” teachings! We need light! Modern brain scientists say that it might be too late to initiate such new paradigm of learning at the level of higher education, our universities. The cultural hypnoses of different countries are usually fully accomplished before the age of 14. That is the age when the human mind is most pliable.  The basic cultural hypnosis of any country, or what we refer  as “education” is finished by that age. After that age human intelligence in most cases seems to stop growing. Thus, the new human being has to be created between birth and the age of 14.

Plans.......???????

 The  form and setting.  I believe the role of the artist, more than of anyone else, gives form to new growth through his work.

 A great example of a Light Library i love is of Picture Books in Iwaki City of Fukushima  by Tadao Ando. Here the overall atmosphere is bright, transparent,  with open bookshelves up to the ceiling . This organization of the books in their individual cubicles seems to echo the structure of our human memory in the brain. bright colours and forms .An atmosphere of playfulness,  is the mark of this new educational facility: it looks new in content, and new in outer form.

It seems that this library allows free movement. It does not  enforcing rules. It looks like it is meant and designed as a domain of innocence, playfulness.

 Well.., this is a library for children. picture books from all over the world, donated from a private collection. But it moves away from the established classical paradigm of what a library was and what it should look like. Imagine -even though the architect  comes from a traditional East Asian architecture( Buddhist temple).

# 5 [18 August 2010]

ADDING LIGHT- BOOKMARKS TO MY LIBRARY

 NIGHT IN THE STUDIO ......ADDING MEMORY TO THE LIBRARY ITSELF (CONSTRUCTING A FLOOR PLAN......

# 6 [19 August 2010]

Keep on adding into My Library

(2 weeks before the installation at the Departure gallery)

'Process as Object' -Constructing the Floor Plan

found image:  from film Alexander the Great- library floor plan

found image : from Hirshorn Library

The Hirshhorn Museum Library, founded in 1969, is now administered by the Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL). It is a research collection devoted to modern and contemporary painting, sculpture, drawings, prints, photography, video, and emerging art forms. The Library has books and related materials (exhibition catalogues, auction catalogues, serials, and ephemeral material) from 1880 to the present, with an emphasis on artists in the Hirshhorn’s collection and on artists featured in the exhibition program.

# 7 [20 August 2010]

While working on the Add TO MY LIBRARY FLOOR PLAN pattern- i've received an invitation  by Aeon Rose -Hive's gallery communicator- to show one of my projects at HIVE-LA RUCHE event as part of the Open House  and London Design Festival weekend 18th -19th September in London see : Open-City the architecture education organisation        

www.open-city.org.uk

www.londondesignfestival.com see : Architecture on your bike.

The theme is Anarchitecture..!  Such a nessesary statement for London. A mix of degraded/ abandoned buildings & uber commercial developments/ 'Kapital' !  this is an important idea to this event along with others ready to be explored!....

In many ways it well links up with what  my view to floor plans and public libraries i am constructing at the moment as well as re-construction/arrangement of geometric motifs / designs / forms / collages etc cut into / from
inside/out of public libraries and building patterns. So...Anarchitecture......

 I will be working on a large scale Street Wall Paper Poster based on my new Book Flags (sign /emblem)- FLAG I, FLAG II, FLAG III, to be desplayed as a street wall installation at the front of LA-RUCHE.(This will take the form of perfomative installation being desplayed live during the event!!

It could make an interesting counterpoint to the Maersk high techno tower building that faces the street. Here is the google street view .See >> http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=uk&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=113045242097615568822.000488a0dda2597b9f544&ll=51.514418,-0.071111&spn=0.010616,0.019484&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.514503,-0.071198&panoid=XebKsQIoYk3nzK9mlrZpNQ&cbp=12,231.2,,0,-34.94

References regarding this project and its relationship to My street Poster Emblem.

Gordon Matta Clark -'conical intersect' link:

http://www.ubu.com/film/gmc_conical.html

http://arttorrents.blogspot.com/2007/08/gordon-mat...

GORDON MATTA CLARK:

Splitting, Bingo/Ninths, Substrait (Underground Dailies) (1974-1976)

http://www.ubu.com/film/gmc_splitting.html

GORDON MATTA CLARK:  CITY SLIVERS http://www.ubu.com/film/gmc_slivers.html

And :the antwerpian 'office baroque'. link >

# 8 [23 August 2010]

BOOKMARKING PAGES

Further into ADD TO MY LIBRARY -What Is the Purpose of the Book today?

Looking at relating BOOK shows in galleries. This one at V&A takes a less-critical approach. In 2008 an exhibition at V&A  has shown the  ways in which the  book has been treated by 'selected' leading artists of today and the recent past. Blood on Paper  focused on new and contemporary work, and on books where the artist has been the driving force in conception and design. selected books which reveal both the creative process and the soul of the artist in question. Some are iconic works which established the genre of the livre d’artiste after the Second World War; others are surprises from artists who are best known for their work with other sorts of material. Formats and production methods vary enormously. Some works show the virtuosity of traditional ‘hot metal’ printing techniques, others take the commercially-produced book as the starting point of their statements, yet others produce stunning large-scale installations and sculptures.?......

Coming back to  my Library ....the Floor installation has been Bookmarking  similar  artworks  by contemporary masters and moves on  adding light bookmarks for those who can not see ............

Antony Caros' piece has been certainly influencial in producting MY SUPER BOOK...to be launced in early 2011. venue to be announced soon!!! 

# 9 [24 August 2010]

What is the purpose of the book nowdays?

 At a time when the notion of the book is challenged by the advent of the screen and computer..........for the last three years I attempt to re-contextualize books that become ‘significant objects’ not to be read, but experienced within the physical space.

Addressing books as 'objects' rather than sacred cultural artifacts.

Within an obsessive cultural context of hypertexts, virtual communication, the internet and the commodification of the book, intented through this expanded installation to encourage viewers to consider how we now address traditional modes of relaying knowledge, such as through the use of textbooks, encyclopedia and atlases.

I prompt viewers to explore ideas of materiality  juxtaposed with new notions of accumulating and communicating knowledge.

# 10 [31 August 2010]

4 days before the installation at Departure Gallery  work in progress

Add To My Library progressively expanded on the floor,lighten by individual light bookmarks.

Experimenting with various types of lighting creates an almost mystical 'reading'.

There are still lighbookmarks awaiting to be installed ......

In the meantime........ a new production of works has meticulusly derived from this process and is about to be  Added to My Library.