The Wingnut

Richmond Food Not Bombs member and friend Mark Strandquist is working on a project in Richmond. There are opportunities for participation from anyone in the community.

Mark will also bring this project to the 2013 Richmond Zine Fest as a display.

From Mark’s website www.nomovement.com here is a description of the project.

People’s Library is an ongoing collaborative project that incorporates interactive sculpture and community created ethnographies.

The project features libraries designed, built and authored by community members. Utilizing donated books from individuals, public libraries, and thrift stores, the project transforms and re-purposes unwanted or otherwise discarded books into blank canvasses for oral histories, self-representation, and intimate reflection.

People’s Library offers sustainable, collective and critical alternatives for the form and function of public space.

The project is collaborative at every public stage of the project. While each book becomes a safe and personal space for intimate reflection, the books and installation are produced through collective and sustainable means. Each autonomous history becomes part of a larger whole.

While in some instances, public spaces have utilized new media to invite patron participation, it is typically through internet based means. People’s Library champions collective production as an avenue for face to face interaction between diverse publics. The project reflects the histories, needs, desires of local residents, and re-interprets public institutions as a space for production, meditation, and alternative education.

Begining in Spring, 2013, workshops will be held and the project will be built, managed and exhibited at the MLK Memorial Library in Washington, DC and included in the permanent collection of the Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library in Richmond, VA.

Individuals in youth programs at each library will co-facilitate a series of workshops. At each workshop, which are free and open to the public, participants will complete various tasks, engage in conversation about contemporary art, and learn functional creative skills:

Papermaking: sourcing pages from the discarded books, participants will blend, pulp and dry materials to create new paper.

Creative Content: participants will collectively formulate, choose and print the prompts to be included in each book.

Bookbinding: the re-purposed paper will be rebound into the covers of the discarded books.

The Bookshelf: participants will collectively design and construct the interactive sculpture that will house the books.

Card Catalog: participants will design, construct and implement a system for the books to be checked out by the public. This system will include space for the reader to reflect and react to their chosen book, the project, and the over-all experience.

To sign up for the printmaking workshops (free and open to anyone…but limited space!);

http://studiotwothree.com/peopleslibrary

If interested in donating books, participating, or incorporating the project in your local library please contact;

markaloysious@gmail.com

This project has been made possible through generous support and partnership:

2012 VCU Arts Undergraduate Research Grant Studio Two Three MLK Memorial Library, Teen Space Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library, Youth Programs