David Bunn has been making library-related art for a number of years, based on his stockpile of catalog cards from the Los Angeles Public Library. Below, the beginnings of my attempt to list those who do art based on libraries, books, shelves, cards, reading, etc.

• Thomas Allen, pulp collagist, cf. http://www.foleygallery.com/talent/thomas-allen
• Edgar Arceneaux, Lost library, catalog of an exhibition at the Kunstverein Ulm, June-July 2003 and Wieseh�fer Gallery, Cologne, Apr.-June 2003
• Stefano Arienti, "Libri tranciati" (sliced books), at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, September/October 2006
• Erica Baum has series on "Card Catalogues" and "Dog Ears" and does other things with books; cf interview with her by Steel Stillman in the October 2013 issue of Art in America
• Andrew Beccone and the Reanimation Library
• Carol Bove and Philip Smith in conversation: "The problem with library taxonomy" in Parkett, no. 86 (2009), p. 62-69 and in German as "Das Problem der bibliothekarischen Klassifikation" on p. 70-77 with different pictures
• Matthew Buckingham, "Situation leading to a story" (Samuel Johnson and his dictionary) cf. https://archive.iarp.wisc.edu/buckingham/work.html
• David Bunn shows at Brooke Alexander (Bunn no longer listed as one of their artists but a web search on "david bunn brooke alexander" gets relevant results). The Brooklyn Museum Library had planned an exhibit/project with David Bunn for summer 2007 but it didn't happen.
• Alejandro Cesarco does beautiful index or contents pages for imaginary books. Murray Guy has a couple on their artist's page for him.
• Clegg & Guttmann: "Sha'at'nez oder die verschobene Bibliothek, recontextualized: a social sculpture" (2004/5) - illustrated in Contemporary, no. 78 (2006) in a review of show at Georg Kargl, Vienna, April-June 2005 (and lots of other relevant works over the years)
• Company So Go No's "Art of Memory" conceived and directed by Tanya Calamoneri (produced July 2007 as part of Ontological-Hysteric Incubator) - reviewed in New York times, 18 July 2007 - cf http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/arts/dance/18memo.html
• Moyra Davey, The problem of reading (Documents Book, 2003) and film "Fifty minutes" (screened at Orchard, 15 June 2006)
• "Brian Dettmer: book autopsies" - the book rather gets lost in the making - http://centripetalnotion.com/2007/09/13/13:26:26/
• Chitra Ganesh and Mariam Ghani and their Index of the Disappeared
• Simryn Gill: show closing today, 6.i.2007, at Tracy Williams Gallery on West 4th Street, NYC, which included her installation of words and books which debuted at the Tate Modern last spring
• Rachel Gugelberger: "Library science, a work in progress" presented to an ARLIS/NY meeting, Metropolitan Museum, 24 January 2006 (see report by James Mitchell on p. 6 in ARLIS/NY newsletter, v. 27, no. 1, spring 2006)
• Candida H�fer, Libraries (Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 2005)
• "cARTalog: a memorial to the card catalog" (University of Iowa Libraries) (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/pr/cartalog/home.htm)
• Roni Horn, Vatnasafn / Library of water, installation in former library building in Stykkish�lmur, Iceland (melting glaciers, solitude, distance, space), opened 5 May 2007. cf Modern painters, May 2007, p. 64-71
• Nina Katchadourian and her "Sorted books" project (http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/languagetranslation/sortedbooks.php)
• "The Library" (1990) by Svetlana Kopystianski: bookshelves with works by Wharton and Cather, shown at Ronald Feldman, June 2006 (courtesy of Lisson Gallery, London) (part of show on Russian/Soviet artists against the State)
• Tine Melzer's "The Readingmachine" (2007-ongoing) is a "multilingual mini-library [that] pretends to offer a range of stories when, in fact, it offers only one" per John Gayer in his review in Art papers, Jan./Feb. 2009, p. 57.
• Abelardo Morell, "Two books" (1994), included in "Seeing things" show curated by Trevor Richardson at Dorsky Projects (fall 2007), and other works at http://www.abelardomorell.net/books_photographs1.html (the Dorsky show also includes a work by Nina Katchadourian and one by Thomas Allen)
• Matthew Passmore and his Cabinet National Library. cf http://cabinetmagazine.org/information/cabinetlandia.php
• Michael Piazza has some simple and lovely unique cyanotypes on view at Nelson Hancock Gallery in Dumbo (Brooklyn), September 2007. cf http://www.michaelpiazzaphotography.com/ or http://www.nelsonhancockgallery.com/exhibitions/topos-brooklyn.html
• Portland Public Library "gave" books to artists and they made objects that can be borrowed (unless they're library use only). Search for "altered books" in the opac at http://catalog.portland.lib.me.us/search
• Wilfredo Prieto, "Untitled (White library)," 2004-2006 cf http://www.wilfredo-prieto.com/engl/index.html
• Proteus Gowanus (Brooklyn, N.Y.): the theme for 2006/2007 was "Libraries" -- http://www.proteusgowanus.com/index.html -- click on "archive" for an overview of the year (2007/2008 is "Play")
• Public Library of American Public Library Deaccession: a catalog of withdrawn public library materials from around the United States (Julia Weist and Maayan Pearl) -- http://deaccession.org/ -- [I don't know if it's art but J.W. found this page and asked to be included; the project is interesting, rather like the Reanimation Library in some ways; if we say it's art, it probably is]
• Regenerator -- http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/regen/regener8.htm
• Eric Rhein often uses a book or book-sized paper as the backdrop for his wire drawings and constructions. cf. http://www.ericrhein.com/
• Martha Rosler Library: e-flux is pleased to announce the opening of the Martha Rosler Library at 53 Ludlow Street in New York City on Tuesday, November 15th, 2005 at 6pm. Comprising more than 6,000 volumes selected from the books at Martha Rosler's residence and studio in Brooklyn and academic office in New Jersey, the library will be accessible for public use through April 15, 2006, at the Ludlow street location. Library hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 12-6 PM. http://www.e-flux.com/displayshow.php?file=message_1131460550.txt (also exhibited, June 2-August 31, 2007: unitednationsplaza, Platz der Vereinten Nationen 14a, Berlin 10249 Germany http://www.unitednationsplaza.org)
• Peter Weibel includes a "re-entry" of the 1993 catalog into Michael Schuster: inside information (K�nig, 2010) "This idea of the catalogue as a re-entry of a catalogue is my artistic contribution and at the same time my tribute to Michael Schuster's standing as an artist"--Foreword.
• Rachel Whiteread has done some works involving the casting of bookshelves or library spaces, e.g., "Untitled (Paperbacks)" 1997 at MoMA; "Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust" at Judenplatz in Vienna.
• Xiaoze Xie: "The MoMA Library" shown at Charles Cowles Gallery, 2-25 February 2006 - http://www.cowlesgallery.com/Xie06.html

n.b. additions gratefully accepted and you can find a few more using my del.icio.us tag "books_in_art."

Last updated: 10 June 2019