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Library – Staging – Esse

Summary

89

Library

Winter 2017

Libraries are institutions which don’t only accumulate knowledge, but also sacralize it for posterity. With the advance of digitization in institutions around the world, the role of a library as a physical place is in constant fluctuation. How do artists approach this seismic movement? How do artists incorporate the book culture into their work? What are the theoretical channels motivating critical expression regarding the transformation of libraries role? This issue explores the role, status and function of the library in contemporary art.

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Current Issue

Immersion

Winter 2026

This issue is interested in all forms of immersion in contemporary art. How are artists critically engaging with immersive technologies? Conversely, what kinds of practices are challenging technology in their pursuit of immersion? How are these experiences breaking down the boundaries between spectator, body, and art? We put forward proposals that rely on listening and sustained attention rather than on amplification and sensory overload – works using devices that are sometimes relatively simple and non-invasive, sometimes a little more elaborate, but in which participation is, with a few nuances, neither passive nor devoid of critical thinking.

Cover: doux soft club
bleu de lieu, 2023-2024.
Photo: Cléo Sjölander, courtesy of the artists

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