An art installation made up entirely of books unread by their original owners is popping up at I_S_L_A_N_D_S in Excelsior Shopping Centre. 'The Library of Unread Books,' an itinerant project initiated by Heman Chong and Renée Staal, is back for its eighth iteration. It is a living reference library with a collection of over 2,000 titles that traces the perimeters of knowledge and reflects on notions of access, excess and the politics of redistribution.
Every single book in the collection was once private property and has been donated by a previous owner who did not read it when it was in their possession. And if you contribute to the growing mobile library, you receive a personalised library card and a lifetime membership.
'The Library of Unread Books' brings to light the once-hidden-away titles to emphasise shared knowledge. Accessible to anyone who can visit the library site, the books work to create a commons. They're arranged randomly and in stacks, in a setting that encourages visitors to feel at home and re-arrange the books according to will and desire.
"A couple of years ago, Renée Staal and I began to ask the people around us to donate the books they have purchased (or gifted) but have never read (and think they were never going to read)," says Heman Chong. "We envisioned this library as a space where all these unread books come to be read by someone else. It is a very simple way of transforming private property into a public common resource."
'The Library of Unread Books' is on view at I_S_L_A_N_D_S from 2 October to 25 October.
