Library at Night

2013
site-specific installation

The video installation “Library at Night” in the Prozori Gallery, situated in the Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević public library in Zagreb, was an ad-hoc reaction to the notion of redundancy in library systems. The public library, a space which preserves identity, does so according to a twofold selection process: as the one which collects, and as the one which rejects. An ideal library does not exist, a library that is immortal, encompasses all knowledge, and belongs to everyone. Libraries are vulnerable to the laws of the market: books that have not been requested for some time are hence considered unnecessary, out-of-date, or redundant. They are excluded from a library’s stock, and if no one needs these books, they are given away, sometimes ending up in flea markets, contributing to a grey or third economy.

This installation consists of video recordings of the space of the functioning library, its dislocated storage room, and a context- specific intervention in the actual space of the storage room, where the artist uses inventory found on site: an old card catalog, written-off books, redundant filing folders. This intervention could be seen in the window of the library’s gallery as a part of a two- channel video installation.

November 8, 2013 – November 15, 2013
Opening on November 8, 2013 at 18:00
Galerija Prozori
Knjižnica S. S. Kranjčevića, Zapoljska 1
Zagreb, Croatia

Library at Night
2013
site-specific installation
two-channel video, redundant books, dimensions variable

curator: Irena Bekić
producer: Zagreb City Libraries and Studio Artless, Zagreb
technical support: Pali Gasi, Zagreb