Art Lending Library

Art Lending Library was a project created by artists Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich in collaboration with Market Gallery, Glasgow. An evolving social sculpture housing a diverse collection of artworks initially commissioned for Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012 and subsequently toured UK 2014-18.

The project offered a unique opportunity for the people of East Durham to borrow artworks to enjoy in their homes, work place or community centre.

The physical library structure is made up of multi-functional wooden crates.
Each crate houses an artwork from the diverse collection in the library of painting, sculpture, video and installation art. and is detachable and ready for transport to people’s homes. On returning to the library the crate is re-attached to the main structural body, which operates as a display case. This modular design creates a constantly changing sculptural form that maps the lending and borrowing process. As people borrow or return an artwork they will also physically shape the library, becoming part of an ongoing social sculpture.

The project takes the form of an experimental library and public procession. Art Lending Library provides a unique opportunity for people to borrow works of art and enjoy them within their homes, work places and community centres, bringing together over 60 works by a diverse range of artists working across a broad spectrum of media. The project is made possible through the generosity of participating artists in gifting their works to the project and the population of the location where it is being shown.

The project stands in resistance to the tide of narrowing access to the arts and education by creating an egalitarian place where art can be borrowed and enjoyed by everyone. The project premiered at Glasgow International Festival in 2012. The three staging’s in East Durham were presented as part of a national tour of the project. 

 

Artists that have been exhibited in Art Lending Library include Penkiln Burn, Graham Fagen, Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan, Mark Vernon, Ellie Harrison, Katie Cuddon, Henna Rikka Halonen, Oliver Braid, Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva, Mark McGowan, Karen Guthrie and Nina Pope, James McLardy, Stephen Hurrel, Alec Finlay, Laura Eldret, Calum Stirling, Andrew Burton, Laura Aldridge, David Sherry, Chris Biddlecombe, Stuart Murray, David Faithfull, Yu-Chen Wang, Jonathan Owen, Nick Fox, Andros Semieko, Kate V Robertson, Peter Evans, Beagles and Ramsay, Jemima Brown, Ally Wallace, Dean Hughes, Fernando Arias, Salome Oggenfuss, Roos Dijkhuizen, Kevin Hunt, Clara Ursitti, Tessa Lynch, Helen De Main, Sandy Grant, Jasmina Cibic, Pilvi Takala, Razan Akermay, Rachel Maclean, Pester & Rossi, James Stephen Wright, Romany Dear, Jacqueline Donachie and Roddy Buchanan, Tim Savage, Ciara Phillips, Catrin Jeans, Chris Mackenzie, Ross Frew, Ewan Manson, Rachel Barron, Sarah Laing, John Vella, Tom Nolan, Kate Murphy, Deborah Kelly, Michael Needham, Ashley McCormick, Annie O’Donnell, Dryden Goodwin, Gayle Chong Kwan, Iacopo Seri, Juan Pablo Echeverri, Margaret Harrison, Nick Kennedy, Nicky Peacock, Kraig Wilson