Hacking the Library Exhibt
Debuting at WVU Downtown Library and online | August 2023 - May 2024
Events
- Artist Virtual Discussion: Friday, January 26, 12pm, via Zoom. Registration required. Join 'Hacking the Library' exhibiting artists Jackie Andrews, Trudy Borenstein, Sally Brown, Matthew Conboy, Chantel Foretich, Robin Miller and Xue'er Gao for an artists' roundtable and discussion on Zoom, moderated by art historian Linda Rosefsky.
The hacker ethos in the positive sense is about the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct information systems. Hacking starts with reconceptualizing libraries. Libraries are now beyond the book. As libraries evolve into a new sort of space --still a space for research, learning and study, but also for community engagement and collaboration – library exhibits present a unique opportunity for exhibitors, librarians, and library users.
Hacking the Library presents artwork that highlights the intersecting values that shape our libraries, reflecting on challenges and definitions of libraries past and as we move into the future. The artwork is contextualized by “Community Connections”—that is, responses from librarians to the artwork in the exhibit. This idea came directly from the experience of the committee as we met to review the exhibit applications. Some of us were charmed by entries others found perplexing.
In short, choosing the artwork for the exhibit spurred a conversation that we would like to keep going. Librarians from across the nations, from big and small institutions, academic, elementary and public, responded, presenting a peek inside both librarians’ personal experiences, and the state of libraries in the past, present and into the future.
Artists
- Jackie Andrews (Maryland, mixed media)
- Trudy Borenstein-Sugiura(New Jersey, book arts)
- Sally Jane Brown (West Virginia, drawing)
- Shan Cawley (West Virginia, painting)
- Matthew Conboy (Pennsylvania, digital)
- Chantel Foretich (New Mexico, sculpture)
- Xueer Gao (Pennsylvania, book arts)
- Ryan Lewis (Michigan, video)
- Robin Miller (West Virginia, mixed media)
- Irmari Nacht (New Jersey, book arts)
- Chris Revelle (Arkansas, sculpture)
- Erin Tapley (North Carolina, sculpture)
Honorary artwork by Liuqing Ruth Yang (West Virginia, mixed media).
Exhibit Consultation Committee
- Karen Diaz, Dean of WVU Libraries
- Sarah Palfrey, Director of Morgantown Public Library System
- Christine Hoffmann, WVU Associate Professor of English
- Lois Raimondo, WVU Associate Professor of Journalism WVU Art in the Libraries Committee