Library Ideal Ideal Library
IDEAL, Leipzig (DE)
20.03.2024 – 05.05.2024
Opening 20 March, 6 p.m.
A library is both a collection of books as well as the place that contains them. Unlike the self-contained format of the individual book, when books find themselves together in a library, it is the relationships between them that start to matter more: as stories and networks gathered together on a set of shelves.
The library at the heart of Library Ideal Ideal Library is a copy of the library of Kunstraum Lakeside in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, an unsystematic collection of artist’s and theory publications accumulated since the founding of the space in 2005, mirroring its program. As part of his exhibition in Klagenfurt, Robin Waart spent the past year reaching out to authors, publishers and institutions represented in the library to make a duplicate.
From March on, this doubled library will be a guest of IDEAL Art Space. In two distinct spaces at the same time, the first at home in Kunstraum Lakeside, the second visiting Leipzig, the libraries develop a parallel existence while communicating from afar: in different contexts, with a change of audience and different opening hours.
But books never come alone, and every library is one among many. In the course of the exhibition, Robin Waart will enter into conversation with art historian Regine Ehleiter and two other artistic library projects by Samuel Bich and Claudia de la Torre to discuss the paratextual structures and strategies they use.
The libraries will be expanded with new entries by the participating artists and the project will be accompanied by a collaborative publication connecting the shows at IDEAL and Lakeside, marked by a flag in the Lakeside Science Park. In March, April and May respectively, the IDEAL DIALOG billboard will feature Waart’s, Bich’s and de la Torre’s projects.