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Librarians and Humanists Exploring Virtual Worlds
Working with Michael Shanks, Professor of Classics, the
History of Science & Technology program in the Humanities
Resource Group is collaborating with the Stanford Humanities
Lab on a project in the virtual world Second Life. Together,
they have created an archive of the works of media and film
artist Lynn Hershman, who also contributed substantially to
the project. Funded in part by the Daniel Langlois Foundation,
the project built a historical archive of this important artist’s
work in a 3-d virtual world owned and operated entirely by its
residents. Many Stanford students populate areas in Second
Life, including two islands for graduate students in the School
of Education. Its virtual world was also used as a basis for
projects in the “Humans and Machines” course offered to undergraduates
in the Introduction to the Humanities Program.
Henry Lowood
Curator, Germanic and
History of Science Collections
Chinese Calligraphy and Stone Carvings As part of the ongoing
effort to enhance the visitor experience at the East Asia
Library, the calligraphic works of C.C. Wang and Niu Kesi’s
stone carvings were exhibited over the past year. C.C. Wang
(Wang Chi-Ch’ien or Wang Jiqian, 1907-2003), distinguished
artist, collector and connoisseur, was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu
Province, China, and studied traditional Chinese painting. He
contributed greatly to upgrade both the art history value and
art market value of Chinese painting. Niu Kesi (“Superior to
Marx” in Chinese) was born in 1954 in Qingtian County, Zhejiang
Province, China, and studied stone carvings under his
father, Tingjiao Li (1921-1971). He has since been regarded
as a pioneer of large scale stone carving, skillfully combining
artistic vision with careful, precise carving.
Zhaohui Xue
Chinese Studies Librarian,
East Asia Library
Avant-Garde Remembered The Art and Architecture Library
recently purchased three journals of the Parisian avantgarde
– Le Coq (subsequently titled Le Coq Parisien) (1920),
Réverbères (1938-39), and Néon (1948-49) – in honor of Alex
Ross on his retirement as Head Librarian after 32 years of service.
Editors and contributors include the Dadaist and Surrealist
luminaries Tristan Tzara, Max Ernst, André Breton, and
Jean Cocteau. These rare ephemera build upon the Library’s
growing collection of avant-garde journals, each exemplifying
that medium’s multiple capacities for artistic interdisciplinarity,
literary idiosyncrasy, political assertion, and graphic
experimentalism. An exhibition of these journals kicks off
the Library’s new exhibition program and will be on display
through the 2007 Fall Quarter.
Anna Fishaut
Assistant Art Librarian, Art and
Architecture Library
Rejuvenating Art at the Visual Resources Center Formerly part
of the Department of Art & Art History but transferred to the
Libraries in September 2006, the Visual Resources Center
completed its first year as a unit of the Art and Architecture
Library. With strengths in European, American, Chinese and
Japanese art and architecture, the VRC’s collection of over
300,000 35mm slides and 34,000 digital images primarily
supports teaching and research in art and art history. While
work continues on migrating the existing collection from slide
to digital, driven primarily by Art faculty request, important
progress is being made in expanding the scope of the existing
collection and extending VRC services to the greater Stanford
community.
Peter Blank
Head, Art and
Architecture Library
Left
Artist Lynn Hershman’s
presence in Second
Life is informed by her
decades of pioneering
work in conceptual and
video art.
Right
Calligraphy and Stone
Carvings exhibition
enriches the East Asia
Library public area.
Below
Edison Diamond Disc
Phonographs Sheraton
Model C 150, 1917
(left) and Chippendale
Model C 250, 1919
(right) housed in the
Archive of Recorded
Sound.
Left
Issue from Le Coq
sheds light on early
20th century artistic
trends.
Right
Viewing traditional
slides at a light table
in the Visual Resources
Center.
Below
Manipulating digital
images in the Visual
Resources Center.
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