Uncommon Libraries

La Casa Encendida, Madrid, showcases the Uncommon Libraries exhibition, curated by Gloria Picazo. The display focuses on the library as a space that has held and continues to hold the knowledge gathered and stored by humanity over the centuries.

The story of the library reads like the tale of a chimera - an illusion, an impossible dream - as understanding the library as a vessel capable of containing all of the world’s memory would always seem like an “unattainable utopia”. This exhibition addresses the many possible branches of the idea of the complete library, which may be found in personal, diverse, subjective, anarchic and uncommon libraries.

Furthermore, if the library is thought of as the space in which all knowledge is concentrated, since public libraries began to be established in the mid-nineteenth century, it is also important to consider the concept from perspectives as diverse as the importance of the physical space and architecture.

The display considers the idea of the library inspired by the mythical libraries, like the ancient library of Alexandria; private and personal libraries, like that of Michel de Montaigne; and utopian libraries, like the architectural endeavours of Étienne-Louis Boullée in the 18th century, and it both accepts and questions the “cloud” as this enormous archive that stores the countless quantity of data generated by today’s society.

The artists involved in the project are united by their profound interest in books and artistic publications.

Artists
Ignasi Aballí / ALIAS / Clara Boj and Diego Díaz / Fernando Bryce / Iñaki Bonillas / Antònia del Río / Enric Farrés Duran / Dora García / Javier Peñafiel / Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa / Francesc Ruiz / Oriol Vilanova. The artist Enric Farrés will also create an installation for the exhibition at the Library and Documentation Centre of the Museo Reina Sofía Art Centre.

Arts Santa Mònica will host the exhibition from April 2018, within the framework of ArtsLibris Barcelona, International Fair of Contemporary Editions.

Curator: Gloria Picazo

Coproduction: Arts Santa Mònica and La Casa Encendida

Collaboration: Library and Documentation Centre of the Museo Reina Sofía Art Centre