Public Library / Memory of the World

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Public Library Memory of the World.png
When everyone is librarian library is everywhere.jpg
Memory of the World.png
Public Library, Nova Gallery, Zagreb, 2015. Photo: Ivan Kuharić.
Public Library / Javna knjižnica, 2015. PDF, Log.

Public Library / Memory of the World is a network of interconnected shadow libraries, each maintained locally and independently from the others. It is modelled after the concept of the public library, extended to the digital realm: with books ready to be shared, meticulously cataloged, everyone is a librarian. When everyone is librarian, library is everywhere.

Public Library / Memory of the World was initiated in 2012 upon the invitation of Kiberpipa to curate their biannual HAIP festival in Ljubljana. Conceived at a moment where public libraries came under threat of austerity measures and where the networked infrastructures of sharing came under an increased threat of closing, it was aimed at strengthening and connecting those infrastructures and provoking debates that addressed the imposed and implicit territorial, socio-economic and legal barriers to the universal access to knowledge. Since this initial outing, Public Library continued to be developed and presented a.o. in dedicated exhibitions at Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart, Galerija Nova under What, How & for Whom / WHW in Zagreb, Galerija SULUV under Kuda.org in Novi Sad, in collective exhibitions Dear Art at the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova in Ljubljana and Really Useful Knowledge in the Museum Reina Sofia in Madrid, in hackathons at Impakt festival in Utrecht, in Post-Digital Publishing workshop at Transmediale in Berlin, in Archive/Anarchive/Public Library workshop at Kuda.org in Novi Sad, in the residencies at Constant in Brussels, Calafou in Barcelona, MayDay Rooms in London and Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart. (2019)

Essays, statements and interviews

  • Javna knjižnica / Public Library, eds. Tomislav Medak, Marcell Mars, and WHW, Zagreb: WHW & Multimedia Institute, 2015, 144 pp. Texts by McKenzie Wark, Tomislav Medak, Marcell Mars, Manar Zarroug, and Paul Otlet. (English)/(Croatian)
  • Marcell Mars, "Memory of the World", IZK Institute for Contemporary Art, Graz, 12 May 2016, 40 min. Video; invited talk as part of the annual 'Graz Architecture Lectures'. [1] (English)
  • Guerrilla Open Access, ed. Memory of the World, Coventry: Post Office Press, Rope Press, and Memory of the World, 2018, 34 pp. Texts by Memory of the World, Christopher Kelty, Balázs Bodó, and Laurie Allen. (English)

Events

Links

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