"Além da biblioteca" Exhibition

The exhibition Além da Biblioteca [Beyond the Library] was held at Museu Lasar Segall, in São Paulo, from July to October 2011, featuring works by eleven artists (Ana Dias Batista, Marilá Dardot, Edith Derdyk, Daniel Escobar, Marcius Galan, Lucia Mindlin Loeb, Jorge Macchi, Odires Mlászho, Fabio Morais, Coletivo Zine Parasita and Nicolás Paris), who occupied the museum’s temporary exhibition room.

The new setup of the exhibition, during SP-Arte/2012, is part of the Publishing Section that the Fair is holding at its eighth edition. Since its first configuration, Além da Biblioteca has functioned as an introduction to the universe of the artist’s book. The works presented deal with formal and functional specificities of this object. By offering a look at artworks that are books, the exhibition offers the public a significant slice of contemporary art production.

Maintaining the original roster of artists, but with slight changes in the list of artworks, the exhibition has taken on a new configuration within the setting of the Fair, functioning as a conceptual axis for the publishing segment – thus denoting the relevance of this character of production, upon being inserted in the environment of a recognized international fair like SP-Arte.

Another characteristic of the exhibition that has also been maintained in this re-edition is the dynamics of the visitors being able to handle the books. The choice of this dynamics evidences the artist’s book as part of a parallel system of art, with other rules, in order to preserve the essence of each work.

There are many changes in the context and in the physical space between the two editions of Além da Biblioteca. The fact that this exhibition can exist in two such widely different situations reveals the importance that the contemporary production of artist’s books has gained, both in the international circuit as well as in the galleries.

Ana Luiza Fonseca
Curator