OPEN AIR PUBLIC LIBRARY
2007
OPEN AIR PUBLIC LIBRARY
MAVROKORDATOU, ATHENS
An independent artists’ initiative as a parallel event within the 2007 Athens Biennale “Destroy Athens”
Open Space Group Exhibition: WHERE IS THE ART?
Concept: Sarah Ettlinger, Toby Short
Project Co-organisors: Katerina Athanasiou, Sarah Ettlinger, Toby Short
Participating Artist: architectones02
Coordination: Antonis Andrikakis – Margarita Mytilinaiou
While designing a public space, we address the question of how this space can be transformed into an urban landscape, enriched with such qualities that make a public space a lively and attractive place for the people in the city. Can a public space inspire it’s residents, open up and be a place of engagement and communication? How can we re-determine the significance of the public space by cultural activities or functional installations? Inspired by the activities of a book friendly neighborhood, with many small publishing firms, we design a site-specific installation an open air public library. Our objective is to explore the possibilities of the public space, by designing an installation that offers free access to information through books. Can such kind of actions work, can a kind of “book crossing” be created, an exchange of books involving publishers, the public sector as much as the people without any constraints or restrictions?
Extract from the catalogue introduction by Katerina Gregou
“[…] Where is the Art? also attempts to link the artists’ activities from their private workspace to the public domain. Rather than sticking solely to the idea of Open Studios, the artists in Where is the Art? finally venture out into the city, using it as an extension of the studio and bringing their practices out of the confines of their private spaces. This provides an opportunity for art to be seen in an entirely different context, one which is engaged with questions of reception and perception of art in the public domain, free for all to evaluate and discuss. Taking possession of public space has, of course, entirely different implications than showing art in the privileged environment of the specialist art space […]”