In de tweede shelf talk onderzoekt Elizabeth Haines de materialiteit en het gedrag dat in bibliotheken wordt belichaamd. (in het Engels)
Libraries occupy a peculiar contradictory place in our imaginaries. Though our encounter with books is often a very private and individual affair—a closed triangle of hand, eye and page—most of the libraries we use are public spaces. They have potent social geographies, as books circulate and create invisible communities with invisible boundaries. This talk is an invitation to think about libraries materially, in terms of scale, substance, architecture, and behaviours.
Elizabeth Haines is a historian of science and Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Bristol. Her interdisciplinary interest in the materiality of knowledge production draws strongly on her education in Fine Arts. One strand of her research focuses on mapping and the lived experience of land rights in postcolonial Africa. In another strand of research she has been exploring what scholars can learn about the past by using objects as a historical source. Elizabeth is currently working on projects with the Science Museum Group, Bristol Museums Archives and Galleries, and National Museums, Kenya.
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ABOUT SHELF TALKS / SECOND SHELF
Our frame of reference is very important in the way we think and in the way artists create. By supporting this research project, the Academy is exploring the diversity of (art) books in the library and broadening this frame. In Heide Hinrichs’ project “second shelf” books are being integrated into the Academy’s collection with a special code so you can track this invisible thematic series. In addition to the acquisition of books by non-white, non-male and non-heterosexual artists, and interventions in the library, second shelf is hosting a series of "shelf talks”. The book selection, interventions and talks are curated in collaboration with partners in Germany, UK, US and Canada.
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PRACTICAL
23.10 at 6PM
Library of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp
Free entrance
NEXT SHELF TALKS
4.12: Strong female artists in South America
19.12: arms ache avid aeon