Installation in the Hayward Gallery |
On a recent visit to the Hayward
Gallery I came across Sasha Pirogova's Biblimlen
(2013) - a playful video in which various characters act out small, expressive
scenes within Moscow ’s
grand Russian State Library. In one scene, a man obstructing the catalogue card
system unwittingly becomes part of the system himself as a library visitor
opens drawers around him, suspending him between them. The scene is available on YouTube.
Still from Biblimlen. Source: http://www.mamm-mdf.ru |
It was refreshing to see such a
fun and physical artwork and it’s great that the library, its furniture and its
conventions are integral to it. The work made me wonder if the library had
inspired the artwork. In the video it appears as an archetype with its rows of
partitioned desks, hooded reading lamps and mazes of shelving. It's a fertile
place for the imagination.
This led me to think of the bland
libraries of my youth (particularly the academic ones) - all metal shelves and
mismatched office furniture - and I wondered if a beautiful or distinctive
library might be a more conducive place to read or study?
I am often drawn to art that is
created in or exhibited in a specific place, as it has the power to make us
reassess our own relationship with that venue – in this instance Pirogova’s
artwork makes us see libraries in a lively and inventive way – turning them
from quiet, sometimes stifled places, to ones of surprise and imagination.
{Chris}
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