"(The Missing Library)" Exhibition
Dumbo Arts Center
This event has ended.
Annie Shaw has invited artists Jen Kennedy & Liz Linden, Marie Lorenz, Michelle Rosenberg, Angie Waller, along with architect Lori Brown, librarian A.G. Graham and information scientist Nate Hill to construct a civic, non-commercial public space in the form of a summer library at DAC for the Dumbo neighborhood. The project invites contemplation on how the function of libraries, their physical space, and their role within communities is changing with the migration to digital form of the content libraries have traditionally housed.
For (The Missing Library), Marie Lorenz fills in a gap of missing information by establishing the first free online tide chart of the New York harbor, providing a useful tool for new DIY boat builders, a part of her continuous effort to alter our perception of New York as a vertical city. Jen Kennedy and Liz Linden carve out an enclave in the library dedicated to arranging a wide array of materials to be considered in a feminist context. Their collection is established through exchange rather than expansion – library users are encouraged to bring their own materials to swap for items in the collection, redefining what is presented as essentially feminist in each rotation.
On the topic of compiling learning and knowledge, Angie Waller invites the reader to search for things she doesn't know she doesn't know. By generating her own system of Unknown Unknowns, the project promotes questioning rather than answering. The puzzle continues with Michelle Rosenberg, who turns the site into Median time 11 min, in which words plucked from the environment are encoded in an idiosyncratic alphabet of objects.
In the reference section of the library, architect Lori Brown and web librarian Nate Hill present their research materials for two proposed libraries: Matilda Joslyn Gage Library and DUMBO Library. Matilda Joslyn Gage was an influential activist who has been largely left out of feminist history. The proposal for the DUMBO Library will be presented as a model for Library Outpost, an approach highlighting information resources and community services without the traditional function of collecting and lending books.
Annie Shaw further transforms the project's architectural context by constructing a series of bookshelves and reading tables, built with used materials collected from past DAC exhibitions. These architectural and sculptural components are intended to be repurposed into future administrative support systems for the DAC office. The project gallery will be used as a screening room, showing films that are set in libraries or about librarians, based on researches done by the Movie Librarian A.G. Graham.
Media
Schedule
from June 23, 2011 to August 14, 2011
Thursday, June 30: The Tide and Current workshop with Marie Lorenz Thursday, July 7: Lori Brown on Matilda Joslyn Gage Library & Nate Hill on DUMBO Library Saturday, July 30: "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" a discussion with Liz Linden and
Opening Reception on 2011-06-23 from 18:00 to 20:00
Artist(s)
Jen Kennedy, Liz Linden, Marie Lorenz, Michelle Rosenberg, Angie Waller, Nate Hill, Lori Brown