Twenty Library Book Shelves
Boxed set of twenty books, each one representing a shelf of Bower Ashton Library.
As Artist in Residence at Bower Ashton Library each week I selected a shelf, opened each book on the shelf and without looking at the book allowed my finger to fall on a single word. This gave me a set of words to create a poem for that shelf with.
The idea for this project came from the naming of the Dada movement, when Hugo Ball allowed a French dictionary to fall open and chose the first word his finger landed on. I thought of this after attending a Found Poetry workshop by Jeremy Dixon (Hazard Press) and wondered whether a set of words gathered by choosing one word from each book, on a single shelf, could be used to write poetry.
During the project I discovered books I would never have thought to look for in the online catalogue. I also explored the books when arranging the words into poems, for example looking up birds with red eyes that fly long distances for Library Book Shelf 598. For me this confirmed the need for printed books and their physical space in the Library, as they offer a rich opportunity for discovery far beyond browsing the online resources.
I hope these books will inspire people to explore the Library for themselves. For this reason no subject is given in the title of the books – only the Dewey Decimal Code. You can guess the subject and then wander through the shelves to see whether you are right; you never know what else you might find on your journey through the Library.
Each book is 10 x 7.5 cm, pamphlet stitched, with rice paper end papers and inkjet printed text. The box is made from Birch plywood with a laser engraved pattern and handles reminiscent of library index drawers.
As Artist in Residence at Bower Ashton Library each week I selected a shelf, opened each book on the shelf and without looking at the book allowed my finger to fall on a single word. This gave me a set of words to create a poem for that shelf with.
The idea for this project came from the naming of the Dada movement, when Hugo Ball allowed a French dictionary to fall open and chose the first word his finger landed on. I thought of this after attending a Found Poetry workshop by Jeremy Dixon (Hazard Press) and wondered whether a set of words gathered by choosing one word from each book, on a single shelf, could be used to write poetry.
During the project I discovered books I would never have thought to look for in the online catalogue. I also explored the books when arranging the words into poems, for example looking up birds with red eyes that fly long distances for Library Book Shelf 598. For me this confirmed the need for printed books and their physical space in the Library, as they offer a rich opportunity for discovery far beyond browsing the online resources.
I hope these books will inspire people to explore the Library for themselves. For this reason no subject is given in the title of the books – only the Dewey Decimal Code. You can guess the subject and then wander through the shelves to see whether you are right; you never know what else you might find on your journey through the Library.
Each book is 10 x 7.5 cm, pamphlet stitched, with rice paper end papers and inkjet printed text. The box is made from Birch plywood with a laser engraved pattern and handles reminiscent of library index drawers.
Library Book Shelf 391.42
Editions can be found in Tate Library's Specialist Collection of Artists Books and Zines, and Bower Ashton Library UWE Artists Book Collection.