By Sarah Tobol
Normally, when people think of the word “library,” they think of a place to read, study, or do research, and that’s about it. But when Sasha Chavchavadze decided to focus this year’s theme of her art gallery on libraries, she thought of other aspects, “from the history of libraries and their elaborate cataloging systems, to the challenges that are facing libraries as they confront the web.” She and many other artists have been investigating the different meanings and implications of libraries over the past year in a collaborative art exhibit.
Last week I sat down with Chavchavadze and Maddy Rosenberg, curators of art gallery Proteus Gowanus. They explained to me the ideas behind their gallery as we sat amidst the current exhibit that is drawing to a close, “Libraries.”
The concept of the gallery came from “a desire to connect visual art to other disciplines and the world,” says Chavchavadze. Visual arts are central to the artwork in the gallery, but the curators and artists also include elements of science and technology. The art and artifacts that they have in the gallery center on a theme, of which they have one a year.
Proteus Gowanus was founded in October 2005 in a former box factory, which is also home to many other artists. It is not only a gallery but also a museum and a store, housing artwork and other artifacts, most of which are for sale.
Of the features in the “libraries” exhibit, one artist, Jen Bervin, created a quilt with words from an Emily Dickinson poem on it, titled “The Composite Marks of Fascicle 28.” Micki Watanabe built a replica of a desk Virginia Woolf used to write A Room of One’s Own, titled, “A Room of Her Own: The British Museum Library,” which has a copy of Woolf’s book sitting on top of it. A permanent fixture of the gallery is a large safe that opens up like a cabinet, containing a mini-exhibit from Cabinet Magazine, an art and culture magazine.
Books are present throughout the entire gallery: in the artwork, in bookcases and also along a bookshelf placed under large works of art. One artist even painted a call number from a book about the Sistine Chapel on the ceiling of the gallery.
Chavchavadze says she wants “to have books near the objects,” and Rosenberg created the “Artistsbook Library and Store,” a collection of books created by artists. This has become a permanent fixture in the gallery and features work that “plays against the idea of the preconception of what a book is,” says Rosenberg. One artist, Doug Beube, created a book by putting together pages with zippers. Sections can be added, deleted, or interchanged.
The exhibits are ever changing, and the fact that they go on for so long allows the collaborators to “delve into things much deeper,” according to Rosenberg. Not only the artists contribute to the investigation of the theme, “people who come into the gallery are part of how the exhibitions grow,” Chavchavadze says. “Visitors are integral to the process, often making observations and suggestions by association.” The current “libraries” exhibit came about after a conversation with one visitor, Andrew Beccone.
Beccone also created a “Reanimation Library,” a collection of books discarded from other libraries. Upon hearing this, I was reminded of a book I recently read, The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. In it, a bookseller brings his son to the “Cemetery of Forgotten Books,” a place books are kept after being abandoned when libraries and bookshops close down. I mentioned this to Rosenberg and Chavchavadze, who took down the name of the book, remarking, “This is how it works. You just did it.”
Proteus Gowanus is truly a collaborative effort. When asked what her role in the gallery is, Chavchavadze replied that, while she is the founder of the gallery, she doesn’t like giving herself a title, because she “couldn’t possibly do it without others.” Rosenberg says, of her own experience with Proteus Gowanus, “it’s a place you’ve been looking for but didn’t know until you found it.”
“Libraries” continues through July 8 at Proteus Gowanus, 543 Union Street. Hours are 3-6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 12-6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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