"The General Public Library" Project
Art in General
This event has ended.
The General Public Library is a library/reading room project organized by Art in General Designer in Residence Mylinh Nguyen, in conjunction with the upcoming launch of six 2009-2010 New Commissions publications designed by Nguyen during her residency.
The Storefront Project Space gallery is made into a reading room, which is accessible as an online resource as well. To start the library, Nguyen invited designers, publishers, curators, artists, galleries, and musicians to contribute publications to the project that reflect the donor’s practice, methodology, inspiration and interest. Visitors are encouraged to donate a favorite book to the library during the exhibition.
Nguyen approaches the idea of a library with a unique focus on participation and the formation of community. In contrast to a traditional reading room–which can only be accessed for the duration of the show—the online catalogue of the General Public Library allows each visitor to browse and curate their own library within an existing and continually growing catalogue, beyond the physical installation. Each donation, as it is made, will be logged into the library cataloging system. As libraries begin to form and overlap, each book becomes a link between the book donor and other participants in the library. Inversely, when viewing one book, it is possible to see the interests of other participants.
Throughout the course of the exhibition, as visitors create their own selection of favorite books, the library will filter all donations into a catalog of the top 200 most popular books. These books will be added to the General Public Library permanent collection after the duration of the project.
Mylinh Trieu Nguyen is a designer and artist based in New Haven, CT. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Design|Media Arts in 2007, was selected as a design fellow at the Walker Art Center in 2008 and is currently pursuing her MFA in Graphic Design at the Yale School of Art. Some of her past clients include UCLA, Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), Golden Parachutes (Berlin). Her work has been featured in Apartamento Magazine Issue #2 (2008), the Live Archive in The Generational: Younger Than Jesus at the New Museum (2009), the Ooga Booga Reading Room at the Swiss Institute (2010), and the Super/Prime PAVILION (Los Angeles, 2010).
Media
Schedule
from September 16, 2010 to November 13, 2010
Opening Reception on 2010-09-16 from 18:00 to 20:00