Think Outside The Book - 2014



Posted on May 18, 2014 at 5:17 PM


Think Outside The Book

Curator: Mirjam Keune
Produced by Jennifer Webster
County Library, Tallaght was the location for Creative Campus’14. Creative Campus’14 participating artists addressed the theme of ‘Library’.


The traditional library exists in a physical space, it focuses on storage and preservation, cataloguing and quiet learning. Libraries now exist as hybrid spaces, as much virtual as real, the library network animated by and situated within communities of users. Sources of information based on paper, coexist with digital and online archives. The South Dublin County Council Library network and in particular County Library Tallaght served as a framework for the work of the participating artists.

Creative Campus ’14 Curator Mirjam Keune asked participating artists to think of themselves as visual storytellers, information givers, a point of access into contemporary art, authors, narrators, biographers, collaborators, their stories can be tiny, hidden between pages or all engulfing epic in your face pop out fiction.

Creative Campus’14 participating artists and team met every Wednesday to work in the County Library, Tallaght. They absorbed the atmosphere and vibrancy of their venue. Between 1500/1600 people pass through the doors of County Library, Tallaght on a daily basis, a cross section of South Dublin County communities.

The Creative Campus artists and team visited ReCreate (a national social enterprise that takes end of line and surplus stock from businesses and reuses them as arts materials). Their warehouse stocks all types of arts materials and Creative Campus artists sourced much of their exhibition piece materials there (www.recreate.ie). Artists also sourced materials from the library itself incorporating disused library books in their pieces.

Between January – May 2014 artists created site specific art that engaged with the real-world audience of both the County Library, Tallaght and South Dublin County.
In previous years the students were in their 3rd year and had an experience and maturity for a creative engagement in a community setting.

Creative Campus’14 artists and team also engaged with targeted second-level schools as active participants in the project.