Since Hill and Sulaiman embrace the social dimension of books and libraries as a way to break down barriers between art and life, it is important to consider some of the semantic differences between the terms archive <\/em>and library<\/em>,as too often they are used interchangeably. As Jacques Derrida reminds us, the term archive<\/em> immediately conjures up notions of bureaucratic power, stemming as it does from the Greek verb \u1f04\u03c1\u03c7\u03c9 (arkh\u014d<\/em>): to rule, to govern. Thus, preservation and regulation are of prime importance in this concept.2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 2 <\/a> - Jacques Derrida, Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression<\/em>, trans. Eric Prenowitz (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 1\u200a\u2014\u200a3.<\/span> The term library<\/em>, on the other hand, is centred on the material object of the book (from the Latin liber<\/em>, meaning \u201cbook\u201d). Similarly, biblioth\u0113ca<\/em> comes from the Greek word bibl\u00edon<\/em>, meaning paper, tablet, small book. Stemming from Michel Foucault\u2019s work, the archive is now largely understood as a regulating discourse, or \u201cthe first law of what can be said.\u201d3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 3 <\/a> - Michel Foucault, The Archeology of Knowledge and the Discourse of Language<\/em>, trans. A. M. Sheridan Smith(New York: Pantheon, 1972), 129.<\/span> Although libraries are certainly not free from such laws, the library as an institution has accrued cultural associations in the course of modern history that have tended to characterize it as an accessible social space. If the archive is thus understood as a system, the library is defined as an open social space that prioritizes the free flow of exchange. It is within such a space that Hill and Sulaiman deploy the book (liber<\/em> or bibl\u00edon<\/em>) as a catalyst for both conversation and social connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christine Hill and the People\u2019s Library<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hill, an American artist based in Berlin, launched the Volksboutique<\/em>, a second-hand \u201cpeople\u2019s\u201d store, in 1996. Located in Berlin\u2019s Mitte district, the Volksboutique\u2019s<\/em> name was inspired by the tradition of the East German Volkseigener Betrieb<\/em>, a term reflecting the idea of collective ownership and production\u200a\u2014\u200asomething by and for the people. Significantly, the Volksboutique<\/em> is not simply an art installation but a fully functioning thrift store that allows visitors to roam freely through the collection of donated items while the artist is on site as proprietor, consultant, and welcoming host. She describes the Volksboutique<\/em> as a \u201csocial sculpture\u201d whose primary artistic material consists of the conversations between the artist and visitors.4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 4 <\/a> - Volksboutique<\/em> (Berlin: Volksboutique\/Eigen+Art, 1997), n.p.<\/span> She might \u201csteer\u201d a conversation once it has been started, but she believes that the visitors should assume responsibility for shaping their own experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Expanding the Volksboutique<\/em> concept, Hill embodied her self-described role as \u201chobby archivist and librarian\u201d5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 5 <\/a> - Artist\u2019s Statement for the 52nd Venice Biennale, in Robert Storr, Think with the Senses. Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense<\/em>, exh. cat. (New York: Rizzoli, 2007), 146.<\/span> with the Volksboutique Reference Library <\/em>(2001). Consisting of ten handmade leather-bound volumes, the library was placed on tables for the \u201cpublic\u2019s perusal and general education.\u201d6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 6 <\/a> - Inventory: The Work of Christine Hill and Volksboutique<\/em> (Berlin: Hatje Cantz, 2004), 211.<\/span> These books do more than simply reflect back on the Volksboutique<\/em> enterprise itself; they offer visitors a variety of images, upbeat messages, and DIY maxims that are echoed in the artist\u2019s hand-painted posters displayed nearby that champion self-education and entrepreneurial self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the years, Hill has assembled a historical collection of books, including how-to manuals, almanacs, volkslexia<\/em>, dictionaries, field guides, and compendia of quotations; she has displayed these collections in various configurations throughout her career. Consistent with the ethos of the Volksboutique<\/em>, visitors are free to browse through her collection as if they were in \u201cstacks in a library or bookstore.\u201d7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 7 <\/a> - Minutes. Work by Christine Hill. The Volksboutique Weekly Diary 2006\u200a\u2014\u200a2007 <\/em>(Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2007), 26.<\/span> No mandated outcomes are dictated by Hill\u2019s library. Rather, the books allow for self-generated searches for knowledge or pleasure\u200a\u2014\u200aor for discoveries that may also trigger conversations with the artist or entries in her guestbook that archives such exchanges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Books are also at the heart of Hill\u2019s project called The<\/em> Interstitial Library<\/em>. Launched in 2004 with artist-writer Shelley Jackson, this library has no established home, building, or physical place. Rather, it is an alternate library that exists in the individual and collective imaginations and is therefore open to all. As librarians of the collection, the artists\u2019 primary aim is to recognize books that defy the tidy categories upheld by traditional institutions. Through a public presentation and a dedicated website, Hill and Jackson encourage us to envision an expansive yet flexible library whose books may be \u201clurking\u201d in \u201cprivate collections, used bookstores, other libraries, thrift stores, garbage dumps, attics, garages, hollow trees, sunken ships, the bottom desk drawers of writers, the imaginations of non-writers, the pages of other books, the possible future, and the inaccessible past.\u201d8<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 8 <\/a> - All direct quotes from http:\/\/www.interstitiallibrary.com\/, accessed Aug. 29, 2016.<\/span> The Interstitial Library<\/em>\u2019s logo portrays a book soaring in the air, a mobile object that circulates freely between people and places.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n The logo also emblematizes freedom of movement\u200a\u2014\u200aan important fact given that this library was formedin the wake of the Patriot Act introduced in the United States Congress after the events of 9\/11. This bill sought access by law enforcement to patrons\u2019 library records in an effort to enhance surveillance of potential terrorists. The Interstitial Library<\/em> thus represents a defence of patrons\u2019 rights to privacy but it is equally a passionate defence of the right to create independent networks of knowledge, however idiosyncratic or subversive. In fact, the library welcomes patrons\u2019 insights, and its website provides forms for suggested books and tips for their classification. Hill and Jackson argue, \u201cEvery reader is an amateur librarian, with a mental library organized according to a private cataloguing system\u2026. We contend that the question of what matters and what does not is a political and philosophical one that should be open to the input of individual readers.\u201d This mission statement deftly underscores the fundamental allure of the library as an ideal social space that allows for the free flow of ideas and exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shooshie Sulaiman\u2019s Emotional Library<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Hill, Malaysian artist Shooshie Sulaiman seeks flexible solutions for the display and perusal of her books to encourage viewer participation. In 2007, Sulaiman was invited to participate in Documenta, providing her with an opportunity to connect with visitors on a global scale. Much to her dismay, however, organizers placed her books in a locked vitrine, thereby denying viewers the experience of leafing through her books, which are not only idiosyncratic and tactile in nature, but also deeply personal in content. A compromise was developed with the organizers of Documenta. For two weeks, an alternative space within the exhibition was erected and viewers were invited to enter on a one-by-one basis and handle the books while conversing with the artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two books shared in this alternative space, Botanical Garden <\/em>and Anna <\/em>(1996), are part of Sulaiman\u2019s larger work titled Emotional Library<\/em> (2007) and contain hand-rendered illustrations, mixed-media collages, and spontaneous annotations, stories, and observations. Both date to her student years and were not originally designed for public display because of their status as private journals that respond in part to traumatic episodes from her family history. \u201cMy own books,\u201d Sulaiman explains, \u201c\u2026 express secrets and things that had many layers. Physically, you can close a book. They were like rituals of closing certain chapters in my life.\u201d9<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 9 <\/a> - \u201cA Silent Presence. Conversations between Melanie Pocock, Hasnul J. Saidon and Shooshie Sulaiman,\u201d in Sulaiman<\/em>, exh. cat. Melanie Pocock ed., (New York: Kerber Art\/D.A.P., 2014), 68.<\/span> By reopening these closed chapters, Sulaiman transforms her private archive to a shared space of the Emotional Library<\/em>, in which conversation and social exchange become a fundamental part of the work. As Russell Storer observes, the \u201csharing of notebooks can take on the character of the gift, which carries the obligation to reciprocate.\u201d10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 10 <\/a> - Russell Storer, \u201cDarkroom,\u201d in Sulaiman<\/em>, exh. cat., <\/em>96.<\/span> Indeed, Sulaiman documented each visitor exchange that she had at Documenta, creating a record of the social interaction as she shared her books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Hill, Sulaiman supplements her book\u00admaking activity by collecting books. She has made these books available to viewers in \u201cguerrilla\u201d art spaces and artist studios that she has established in various cities in her native Malaysia. Many of these books were abandoned by their original owners or damaged over time, a significant factor for the artist. Informed by animist principles, Sulaiman believes that books, like other objects from daily life, \u201ctransfer\u201d or \u201cetch\u201d their energies and histories into their new spaces and generate new histories as they circulate among different audiences in her installations.11<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 11 <\/a> - \u201cA Silent Presence,\u201d 41.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Muar Art Kindergarten<\/em> (2012\u201313) represents an extension of Sulaiman\u2019s belief that books can generate new histories. Functioning as an alternate classroom and resource centre, this installation displays the artist\u2019s personal collection of books, journals, and ephemera devoted to the subject of Malaysian art. As a student, and later as an artist exhibiting internationally, Sulaiman found that there were no adequate history books or institutional resources devoted to documenting and supporting modern Malaysian art. Putting her collection into circulation, she reasoned, would not only recognize lost voices in this history but also initiate a critical conversation about Malaysian art. Moreover, the work critiques institutional powers that have misrepresented the history of Malaysian art and questions the idea of ownership of archival material and those who police it. However, like the librarian-artists of The Interstitial Library<\/em>, Sulaiman yields her authority over the collection to visitors. \u201cI am just one person\u201d she explains, \u201cI can\u2019t play the role of an institution. I can only spark interests\u2026.\u201d12<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 12 <\/a> - \u201cProductive Excess\/The Archive as Treasure. Conversations between Hammad Nasar and Shooshie Sulaiman, in Sulaiman<\/em>, exh.cat., 191.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coda<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The libraries of Hill and Sulaiman playfully raise questions about how value is assigned to books and where they are placed within taxonomic systems\u200a\u2014\u200anot to mention, who<\/em> makes such decisions. With their emphasis on visitor interaction and input that often yield alternate taxonomic systems, their installations have been allied with \u201carchival\u201d practices in contemporary art. And yet, the label of \u201carchival\u201d does not fully capture Hill\u2019s and Sulaiman\u2019s projects, for these two artists are not only interested in challenging the authority of taxonomic prerogatives or the \u201cregulating discourse\u201d associated with the archive, they are equally invested in the book as a material and social object. The handmade and found books in their respective libraries bring their own histories and materiality with them as they enter into the social space as \u201cbrokering\u201d agents (to return to Leah Price\u2019s term), opening up possibilities for conversation or exchange. The unique physical structure of the book is also not lost on these artists, as books can be opened or closed, perused, passed over, or simply held. It is equally significant that Hill and Sulaiman seize upon the cultural associations of the library as a space that prioritizes access and shared exchange. Hill\u2019s installations, for example, refer to collectivist notions of a \u201cpeople\u2019s\u201d (volk<\/em>) space: community thrift stores, bookshops, the reference section of the public library, or the collective imagination. Sulaiman\u2019s spaces, on the other hand, are modelled on the private home, studio, or personal library opened to visitors. The crucible of the library, whose flexible structures of display conjure up familiarity, offers these artists an especially effective means to present their books that responds nimbly to the ebb and flow of the shared social space.<\/p>\n![\"Hill_Small_Business_Model\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/89_DO03_Arnar_Hill_Small_Business_Model-scaled.jpg\")
Small Business Model<\/em>, installation view, Galerie EIGEN+ART, Leipzig, 2011.
Photo : Uwe Walter Berlin, \u00a9 Christine Hill, courtesy of Galerie EIGEN+ART, Leipzig\/Berlin & Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Hill_TheVolksboutique2\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/89_DO03_Arnar_Hill_TheVolksboutique2-scaled.jpg\")
The Volksboutique Small Business<\/em>, 2010.
Photo : Felix Oberhage, \u00a9 Christine Hill, courtesy of Galerie EIGEN+ART, Leipzig\/Berlin & Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Hill_TheVolksboutique\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/89_DO03_Arnar_Hill_TheVolksboutique-scaled.jpg\")
The Volksboutique Reference Library<\/em>, 2001.
Photo : \u00a9 Christine Hill, courtesy of Galerie EIGEN+ART, Leipzig\/Berlin & Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Emotional](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/89_DO03_Arnar_EmotionalLibrary.jpg\")
Emotional Library<\/em>, Documenta 12, Kassel, 2007.
Photo : courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"EmotionalLibrary\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/89_DO03_Arnar_EmotionalLibrary3-scaled.jpg\")
Emotional Library<\/em>, artist\u2019s studio, 2006.
Photos : courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"EmotionalLibrary\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/89_DO03_Arnar_EmotionalLibrary2.jpg\")
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Muar](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/89_DO03_Arnar_MuarArtkindergarten-scaled.jpg\")
Muar Art Kindergarten<\/em>, 2012-2013, installation view,
Tomio Koyama Gallery booth, Art Stage Singapore, 2013.
Photo : courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n