WE’RE IN THE LIBRARY
Sara Angelucci, Barbara Astman, Adam David Brown, Michelle Gay, Ido Govrin, Vid Ingelevics, Jon Sasaki
Exhibition
Koffler Gallery, 2013
Photo documentation by Toni Hafkenscheid
We're in the Library was the inaugural exhibition at the Koffler Gallery’s new downtown location at Artscape Youngplace.
Featuring Toronto artists Sara Angelucci, Barbara Astman, Adam David Brown, Michelle Gay, Ido Govrin, Vid Ingelevics, and Jon Sasaki, who create works that engage the context and history of the venue, formerly the library of the Shaw Street Public School.
Sara Angelucci’s multi-part installation evokes the memories that linger inside spaces and bodies, giving voice to students of generations past so that their readings may still reverberate within these walls. Barbara Astman’s deconstructed encyclopedia celebrates the excitement and anticipation of the unknown worlds that open within the covers of a book.
Adam David Brown subverts hierarchies of control and classification as he reimagines two emblematic reference devices associated with notions of translation, language and colonialism. Ido Govrin’s sculptural audio piece articulates a sensual and enticing survey of famous authors’ last books. Collaborating with her brother Colin, Michelle Gay experiments with information technologies to poetically transform the ubiquitous desktop computer by teasing out meaning and coaxing stories from harvested data.
Inspired by a serendipitous finding on the former library site, Vid Ingelevics’ work questions the ways in which today’s students learn about the past and how that past is distilled through contemporary online search vehicles. Testing the innocent utopia of school-age murals and their corporate commercial counterparts, Jon Sasaki proposes an experiment that challenges the idealized moment of global harmony by restoring it to real life.
Adam David Brown subverts hierarchies of control and classification as he reimagines two emblematic reference devices associated with notions of translation, language and colonialism. Ido Govrin’s sculptural audio piece articulates a sensual and enticing survey of famous authors’ last books. Collaborating with her brother Colin, Michelle Gay experiments with information technologies to poetically transform the ubiquitous desktop computer by teasing out meaning and coaxing stories from harvested data.
Inspired by a serendipitous finding on the former library site, Vid Ingelevics’ work questions the ways in which today’s students learn about the past and how that past is distilled through contemporary online search vehicles. Testing the innocent utopia of school-age murals and their corporate commercial counterparts, Jon Sasaki proposes an experiment that challenges the idealized moment of global harmony by restoring it to real life.
Engaging the library as a place of exploration, intellectual inquiry and social interaction, these artists revisit cultural icons and revel in the mysteries of books, examining the communication of knowledge and idealized notions of education. As portals to new worlds of enchantment, school libraries are often the place where some of our first journeys of discovery and self-awareness begin.
