The Library of Unread Books
8 Jul 2023 - 3 Sep 2023
The Library of Unread Books is a travelling public library initiated by artist Heman Chong and producer and registrar Renée Staal. It is made up of a collection of books that have been left unread by their previous owners. With a revelation of books that people choose not to read, the showcase is a collective gesture that addresses the distribution, access, and surplus of knowledge.
Inspired by the novelist and scholar, Umberto Eco who famously called for an “Antilibrary” of unread books –the interactive artwork brings to light the value of unread books and how it can act as a humbling research medium, containing knowledge and information waiting to be discovered.
Artist Sharing: All of the Above
9 July 2023, Sunday, 2:00pm
In the session, Heman Chong shared a number of works made between 1999-2023 that revolves around the movement of ideas from object to person to object to person, and in turn, traces the path of transmissions between these points.
The stories behind these works often involved chance, luck and accidents-leading to strange, unexpected surprising situation that were almost always humorous yet tinged with a quiet melancholy at the same time.