The launched of ADD TO MY LIBRARY vol 1. was last Thursday the 18th at Departure gallery London, Southall.
Amazing crowd and great feedback-thanks to all who attended and Louise Aschroft who supported the project. Here are some pics from the show and participants while contributing to the ADD TO MY LIBRARY their own books and specifics about their view to this discourse. We already started preparing ADD TO MY LIBRARY vol II. primarily an interactive project with physical presence (site specific installation) and on line database of the participants from all over the world who have started already contributing to the project!
Wacth this space for more info…..and write to my studio assistants if you want to participate in the final exhibition in a London gallery TBA.All contributors will be fully credited. Looking forward to hearing from you….. …
[email protected]
‘’ ADD TO MY LIBRARY vol .1’’ PROJECT BY CHRISTINA MITRENTSE launched at /supported by Departure Gallery London. on view 17 September- 23 October 10
In the era of intimate relationship to objects and ownership, the on-going project ‘Add to my Library’, reflects linear processes of collective narratives into an open active space. Walter Benjamin’s writing ‘Unpacking my library’ where traditional processes of collection are deployed inspires this. It is a ‘living’ library that juxtaposes notions of ‘divine’ teaching with Internet coded language.
In ‘Add to my Library vol.i ’ Mitrentse attempts to confront the viewer with an array of wondrous and humorous meditations on materiality through visual transmissions from banal to the monumental. Pages from her antique book collection have been removed from their covers and meticulously reorganized and rebound as many, now transformed into objects that defy their original form. The coverless books are folded together to create an intrinsically infinite organic structure that begins to approach an architectural Floor plan or a pattern. Expanded into organic matter, twisted or stuck together, they form small scale Podiums and other times printed editions of ‘ ‘Flags’ or Emblems’. Referencing the lost Ancient Library of Alexandria and contemporary architecture of institutions and Libraries internationaly.
Mitrentse re-contextualizes books that become ‘significant objects’ not to be read, but experienced within the physical space. She addresses books as objects rather than sacred cultural artifacts and prompts viewers to explore ideas of materiality: what is the purpose of a book now days? Within an obsessive cultural context of hypertexts, virtual communication, the Internet and the commodification of the book, the work encourages viewers to consider how we now address traditional modes of relaying knowledge, such as through the use of textbooks, encyclopedia and atlases.
Having transcended any thematic organization, the unreadable self-forming sculptures have now the potential to amalgamate into an infinite number of new ‘books’, which yield a contemporary library or museum, defying conventional categorization. Yet their sculptural formulation raises questions regarding hierarchies of educational spaces and institutions.
‘’I consider this project as addressing the relationship of disembodied knowledge to embodied experience and materiality. Within the current digital market that appears to threaten our individuality, ‘ Add to my Library’ becomes the artists’ shelter, a new place of knowledge’’.
Project web link: www.a-n.co.uk/p/659131/
Artistwebsite: www.christinamitrentse.net
3 DAYS BEFORE THE OPENING.. ..
INSTALLATION VIEWS.
I WILL LAUNCH MY PROJECT ADD TO MY LIBRARY part 1, @ PROP SHOW ORGANISED BY DEPARTURE GALLERY (CURATOR LOUISE ASHCROFT ) LONDON. OPENING PARTY FRIDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER
Reviewed by Art Licks the show of the week
Find more info here:http://www.artlicks.com/
THE SHOW OPENS ON THE 13TH BY APPONTMENT. PRIVATE VIEWING ON FRIDAY THE 17TH SEPTEMBER.
PROJECT IS ALMOST READY-
CHAOTIC COLLOSAL GALLERY SPACE / INSTALLING THE WORKS WAS FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE . WORKING WITH THE CURATOR LOUISE ASCHROFT HAD BEEN UNIQUE.
ADD TO MY LIBRARY AT DEPARTURE GALLERY-SOUTHALL LONDON
we have been installing the works the last 5 days at the colossal industrial space.International Trident estate.
PREVIEW IMAGES
