Most of the time at the gallery, I choose to work in the library. The company of the artworks, visitors, gallery attendants give me needed distraction when the time seems standing still. The books, hundreds and hundreds of books, remind me there are so much more in the world outside my life.
The library is dedicated to Chinese contemporary arts. It contains exhibition catalogues, artist biographies, art histories, surveys of Chinese contemporary art, and a variety of periodicals, most either in English or including English translations.
The library just finishes cataloging 2000 books. Apparently there are 8000 more in the warehouse nearby that need cataloguing, which will be a huge task for the education officer.
Contemporary arts can sometime be ambiguous and put the audience off. Reading books about the works that I am not too sure about make me go “that is what you are on about.”
If attending guided tours of the gallery is an introduction to the works on show, library is where you decipher the contemporary arts.
Libraries in art galleries are a largely untapped resource. When I need a library for arts related info I always forget this fact! A while ago I worked at the AGNSW and discovered the library there. Its an art administrators heaven!
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