Anupama Kundoo. Unbound: The Library of Lost Books

1 Conceptual Description
‘The Library of Lost Books’ is a bookless library with
a live program of reading. The focus is on the content
of the book and the act of reading. ‘Unbound’, a term
that relates to the description of books, also expresses
liberty and the idea of plenty, of limitlessness.
The theme ‘liberty’ is expressed through creating a
place that celebrates ‘reading’, a place that symbolizes
an expression of freedom, as a place where knowledge
is free. Knowledge is empowerment, and knowledge
will lead to progress and freedom. This is appropriately
expressed as an ‘outdoor’ place under the ‘shade of
trees’ where everybody has a good memory of having
read a good book in the sense of freedom, free from
the confines of walls of buildings.
Yet, books ‘the building blocks’ of society are facing
extinction. Transition/evolution in the ‘form’ of the
book through time has led to books becoming lighter,
losing their materiality, now often only virtual. However
the act of ‘reading’ continues. Books, as beings in
transit, pass through the hands of many readers as in
libraries, rather than sitting on shelves of owners, or
still with publishers. ‘Obsolete’ books locked in storage
about to face their end, are rescued from pulping,
brought back in circulation, and liberated, and are
available for free exchange.
‘Obsolete’ books will be recycled as a construction material,
to build a canopy which will give shade to those
who engage in ‘reading’ and ‘listening to stories told
aloud’ or those engaged in ‘freely exchanging’ books
without exchanging money. After dismantling, the
books used to construct the canopy will be available to
the public as a souvenir commemorating the event.
Liberation is lightness. These are light-weight structures
for heavy-weight books that transcend the sense
of ‘weight’ to focus on the perception of the ‘light’
element of the book: content.
Filmoteca de Catalunya at Plaça Salvador Seguí,
seen from Southeast. Photo: Filmoteca de Catalunya
Books made of paper are at the environmental cost of
trees. Recycled books are used to reconstruct trees as a
symbol of the acknowledgement of these resources to
create an open-air library for ‘reading’.
3 The Context