The Library in Art’s Crosshairs

Abstract

The library has been examined critically by many artists, particularly those working since the 1960s. This article identifies four ideas recurring in art works that critique this institution. These themes relate the library to its community, to issues of authorship and ownership, to restrictive forms of order, and to the tension between chaos and order that often accompanies creativity."I'm thinking about the library being this place of projection and the production of certain myths." --Edgar Arceneaux 1 Henry Pisciotta is arts and architecture librarian, ), unpaged.2. "For artists looking to restructure perception and the process/product relationship of art, information and information systems replaced traditional formal concerns of composition, color, technique, and physical presence. Systems were laid over life the way a rectangular format is laid over the seen in paintings, for focus." Lucy Lippard,