Monday 26 June 2017

Impossible bookshelf


I decided to make a bookshelf in which books fanned out like the voussoirs (the wedge-shaped stones) that make up a stone arch...There were a couple of problems that had to be overcome. Books are not wedge-shaped, so they will not fan out neatly into an arch like voussoirs do without some help. And I needed to find a way to stop all the books in the middle of the shelf from sliding down to the sides if someone took a book out from one of the ends. I realised I could solve both problems but fixing angled bookends at regular intervals along the shelf. However, rather than spoil the impression that the arch was entirely made from books, I disguised the bookends to look like dummy books.
Jonathan Emmett

Friday 16 June 2017

Starfield Library


Shinsegae Property has officially opened the large-scale library in Starfield Coex Mall, featuring some 50,000 books placed on towering two-story bookshelves. The 2,800 square meter-sized library is located at the center of the underground shopping mall. Shoppers can freely browse, read and search for books of their choice on kiosks stationed at various points inside the open library area.
Korea Herald


Tuesday 13 June 2017

Unearthed book installation

As part of the Shubbak Festival of Arab Culture, the Great Court will be filled by Syrian artist Issam Kourbaj with hundreds of old hardback book covers placed side by side to cover 60 square meters of floor. Some covers are painted with blocks of colour, many others have a black line across them, echoing the Syrian tradition of placing black ribbons over the photographs of the recently deceased. These covers evoke memories of lost knowledge and lives. Watch the artist create the installation over a matter of hours.
Sunday 2 July, 10am–5.30pm. Free.
British Museum 

Monday 12 June 2017

Subway library train

For the next six weeks, any member of the public in New York can head to subwaylibrary.com or download the New York Public Library's reader app, SimplyE, to have unlimited access to a wide selection of NYPL-provided e-books. The initiative also aims to promote the free Wi-Fi service at each of the subway's underground stations, which rolled out late last year. When users log onto the service, a link to the Subway Library website will appear, encouraging you to read a book instead of your Facebook feed.

Library Train is designed to look like the iconic Rose Reading Room with the seats and walls on each car made to resemble bookshelves (and a fauxGilded Age ceiling to boot). The train is scheduled to run on the E and F lines between Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

TimeOut  and New York Public Library

Thursday 8 June 2017

Parthenon of Books

The Parthenon of Books is the main showpiece at this year’s Documenta, the cult contemporary art show held once every five years in the university town of Kassel. The work by Argentine artist Marta Minujin is a plea against all forms of censorship. Minujin, 74, a pop art icon in South America, has described it as “the most political” of her works. In fact, the Parthenon of Books stands at the same site where, in 1933, Nazis set in flames books by Jewish or Marxist writers.

Tuesday 6 June 2017

Monday 5 June 2017

British Heart Foundation 'bookcase': Wear it, beat it

Rachel McCaulery, who had a heart infection last year, is painted red by make-up artist Carolyn Roper to blend into the Royal Society of Medicine Library for the launch of the British Heart Foundation's 'Wear it, beat it' campaign.
i News