Almost everything that happens in a library takes place on a table or around one.
Reading, writing, drawing, taking notes, talking, listening, drifting off while staring at the ceiling, gossiping, whispering, glancing sideways, looking straight ahead, passing notes underneath, seducing, sharing, touching.
Reading, writing, drawing, taking notes, talking, listening, drifting off while staring at the ceiling, gossiping, whispering, glancing sideways, looking straight ahead, passing notes underneath, seducing, sharing, touching.
This installation, conceived by Iván Argote, seeks to give form to all of this: to the relationships that are constantly being made and unmade in this space, and to the many encounters that libraries make possible. The wooden tables, part of the existing furniture, have been intervened by the artist with phrases collected through an open call that, over several weeks in 2023, invited all users, visitors, and admirers of this place to respond to three questions: What phrases, verses, or quotations does the library evoke for you? What would the tables of this library say if we let them speak? What words would you like to accompany you—and others yet to come—now and a hundred years from now?
All the contributions received are included in the final piece, tattooed onto the surface of eighteen tables. The text unfolds across three layers which, following a certain order, form a narrative whole, while also allowing for infinite combinations and readings in everyday use. Engraved in negative, the tables also function as woodcut printing plates: machines that print the inscribed word. Added to this is a set of steel plates suspended from the ceiling, also engraved with fragments of the text and their undulations, acting as mirrors that fracture reading and vision in multiple directions. The installation welcomes those who come to sit, multiplying the circulation and exchange of gazes, words, and ideas that take place within it.
This project is the result of a collaborative process initiated in 2017 by librarian Javier Pérez Iglesias as commissioner, and by researcher and curator Julia Morandeira Arrizabalaga as mediator. It was produced within the framework of Concomitentes with the support of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. Central to this process was the formation of the Ranganathan working group (2019–2021), focused on discussing, expanding, and critically examining the uses and universe of libraries, which helped refine the commission addressed to the artist.
Julia Morandeira Arrizabalaga
Researcher, Curator & Mediator of the project
Courtesy of Concomitentes. Photographer: Lukasz Michalak.
Courtesy of Studio Iván Argote.
Courtesy of Studio Iván Argote.
Courtesy of Studio Iván Argote.
Courtesy of Studio Iván Argote.
Courtesy of Studio Iván Argote.
Courtesy of Studio Iván Argote.
