As I was browsing the Web, looking for inspiration, I discovered a work by John Baldessari – a conceptual artist from America. He transformed the library space at UCSD (University of California, San Diego) into a beautiful work of art… the photos online are enough to make me want to go to UCSD and soak it up in real life. I wonder if it’s still there (as the website is dated 2001)? I was moved enough to cut a piece of one picture and paste it into the header of my weblog. It complements my own themes and aspirations. Here’s a description from the Stuart Collection website:
John decided first to transform the library doors and then to incorporate the entire lobby space, choosing students as his subject. The entrance to the Geisel Library is comprised of a wall of eight ten-foot high glass panels flanking two pairs of automatic sliding doors. Onto each of these panels John has placed photographic images of UCSD students standing atop a row of shelved books. They become part of the architectural structure ñ like a Greek temple using the figures as columns, the books their bases.
The existing clear glass of the doors was replaced with glass in primary colors, perhaps suggesting primary sources of information. As the doors open and close, the colored panes cross over each other, visually mixing into new colors. Above the doors the words READ, WRITE, THINK and DREAM echo the exhortation Baldessari gave his students to remember that beyond the day-to-day grind comes the chance to contemplate the unexpected and envision new worlds.
Emphasis mine. I wish I could go and view this in the flesh, over on the other side of the world. One day…
