Turned Over

Turned Over series, 2013. 25 altered library books, mixed media, brown paper, letterpress, typewriter, laminated sign. Unique. Dimensions variable.

Turned Over was part of a collaboration between Byrd and CF. Byrd built a large-scale cardboard installation (Library 2013) that mashed together architectural features from various ACT public libraries. Turned Over is a recycled library of discarded public library books. Numbered from 1 to 25, each is an amplification of bad library habits. Each book has a brown paper cover, a spine sticker, and a back ‘blurb’.

The installation set up a comfortable reading space (with a cardboard couch) that allowed readers to sit and look through the books. One book, #13: Discourse, relied upon participants writing stories about their library experiences.

This work is about shared reading spaces, and also about the constant yet transient nature of this most public collection. Unlike other book collections in the city, the ACT public library service is a dynamic collection that shifts with the needs of the public. Books are bought, used and discarded in a regular cycle that goes unquestioned in a way that does not happen with other kinds of libraries.

EXHIBITED

Shaping Canberra, 18 Sept to 19 October 2013, ANU School of Art Gallery. Curated by Ruth Hingston.