What started off as just an idea by two staff members who wanted to ‘do something coronaproof’ with their colleagues has turned into a full-fledged exhibition with no fewer than 41 works of art. You can visit The Arty Farty Library in the Stadscampus library until 15 April.
A year ago, some twenty colleagues got in touch with their inner poet and joined the Poetry Corona project, writing a poem inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, library staff members Jolien Cuyvers and Jeroen Van Gorp invited all their library colleagues to create a work of art based on a book title. They had hoped to get at least ten people to join in. Ultimately, 41 works of art were submitted to The Arty Farty Library.
Craft projects or works of art?
The idea was simple: create a work of art based on a book title. Titles ranged from Gulliver’s Travels, Blinker and Ivanhoe to The Hobbit, Sherlock and Into the Wild. There were 41 different titles, all from the broad adventure novel genre. The works of art could be anything: paintings, clay sculptures, drawings, collages, photographs, text, film, etc. There were no requirements other than that the creations – which some all too modestly referred to as their little ‘craft projects’ – would be for everyone to see, and the creators absolutely had to have fun making them.
The results were astounding. The library staff’s level of creativity was unexpected, and their artworks are so very beautiful. They then had to idea to make an exhibition out of it. So now, thanks to the support of many colleagues, all the artworks are on display in the Stadscampus library.
Interactive exhibition
Everyone is welcome to visit the exhibition. The library staff even turned it into an interactive exhibition, where you have to guess which book title corresponds to which work of art. Visitors can also vote for their five favourite works of art. So please stop by the library and let us know what you think of the library staff’s creativity!