Posts filed under ‘art’
The Credible Hulk
New library superhero? Thanks, whoever it was who told me about this, which now I can’t remember (not very credible hulkish of me).
Papier-mâché employees of the Internet Archive!
The Internet Archive, home of the Wayback Machine and an enormous public-domain digital book collection, is housed in an old church in San Francisco. The pews of the church sanctuary are filled with papier-mâché representations of the employees! I haven’t been able to find out who made these or how it all came together or whether it’s a temporary thing — if you know anything about it, please comment. Thanks, Carol Dickerson!
Another book igloo!
Artist Miler Lagos has made an igloo out of books, and you can walk inside it. It might remind you of a similar structure built by CC students in 2010. Thanks, BoingBoing!
Giant book sculptures
Two giant book sculptures that seem like library shenanigans: Alicia Martin’s “Biografias” in Madrid and a giant tower of books about Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C. Thanks, BoingBoing!
The Library Phantom Returns!
She’s at it again! Someone has been sneaking around putting wonderful altered-book paper sculptures into libraries and museums in Edinburgh. She says she’s finished. I hope she isn’t. More here.
The Joy of Books
More of a bookstore shenanigan than a library shenanigan. Perpetrated by … the books themselves! Thanks, Amy Brooks and others.
Library Christmas trees made of books and bound journals
This photo comes from CSU-Pueblo in 2011. Many other libraries have done similar things, including the Aalborg Universitetsbibliotek in 2006 (they used their set of the National Union Catalog of Manuscripts), the University of British Columbia Library, and the Globe University Madison East Library. Thanks, Carol Dickerson!
Mysterious paper-sculpture gifts in Scottish libraries
In early 2011, the Scottish Poetry Library received an anonymous gift, a beautiful paper sculpture of a “poetree” (image at left). Soon after, other Scottish libraries and cultural institutions received similar gifts. Thanks, Amy Brooks and Sarah Milteer!
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Update, February 2012: The Library Phantom Returns!
Poem about a library visualized with library books
This postcard from ripple(s), made for William Corbett’s poem “Remembering Michael Gizzi,” which is about the Woodberry Poetry Room at the library of Harvard University, seems to me to count as a library shenanigan.
Addendum, April 2014: The Dayton Metro Library in Dayton, Ohio encouraged its patrons to make poems out of spine titles. Thanks, Dina Wood, for letting me know!
book artist shenanigans
Many artists’ books are playful and shenaniganish, but there are a couple who seem particularly worthy of mention on Library Shenanigans. One is Brian Dettmer, whose “book autopsies” might be considered a librarian’s nightmare: he carves out the illustrations in encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other books and turns them into three-dimensional book sculptures.
Another is Zach Gage, whose ANTAGONISTIC BOOKS set (Danger and Curiosity) self-destruct in different ways; each can only be “read” once.
Library Shenanigans 