Library Homecoming 2013 event: Reimagining books as works of art

As we considered how the Library might participate in this year’s Homecoming weekend celebration (October 25-27, 2013), we stumbled upon a wonderful idea from the Claremont (California) Colleges Library. They have developed a “repurposed book art contest” called RE:BOOK. The RE:BOOK contest was conceived to “[invite] students to submit projects made from worn-out books and other forms of cast-off paper.” The planners posed a question as the basis of RE:BOOK: “When does a book outlive its intended use, and what (legitimately) happens next?”**

We weren’t (at this stage) so much interested in delving into a philosophical conversation about the life-cycle of books as we were looking for a creative Fall book-related event to engage Milligan College students, faculty, and staff, which could also serve as a nice complement to the Edible Books Festival we put on in the Spring.

Since we didn’t know what to expect in terms of entry response the first time around, we decided to pair the idea of reimagining books as art with a display of some of the wonderful art books we have in the Library collection. This led naturally to a name for our event: Art Book+Book Art. We also decided that instead of awarding prizes for favorite entries, we would simply hold a drawing where one lucky (non-staff) entrant could win a $25 Amazon gift card.

We were very pleased by the initial response. We had 14 entries submitted by 6 artists, representing both students, faculty, and library staff. Student Anna Dukart was the winner of the Amazon gift card. The exhibit was set up in the back study area on the Main Floor of the Library throughout Homecoming weekend. It will remain up through Friday, November 8 if you haven’t yet had a chance to see it in person.

We love the idea of having the Library serve as a venue for art. We definitely plan to hold the event again next year. We hope that it will become an annual Fall/Homecoming tradition. Here are photographs from this year’s Art Book+Book Art exhibit (click on a thumbnail to enlarge):

** Tagge, N. and Booth, C. (2013, September). Constructive destruction: Examining the life cycle of texts through RE:BOOK. College & Research Libraries News, 74(8), 402-407.