Contrary to other cultural forms, art is rarely associated with the library. Although literature became a commonplace in various museums, museums have lost their status of art temples in favour of public houses where the focus is not only on collections but also on imagination, in manifold ways. Museums are beyond conservation. They question themselves and participate in a dialogue with their visitors. Writers and literature in general are invited to collaborate. This article investigates whether libraries experience a similar evolution and explores what contemporary art has the libraries to offer.
 

Historically, art and language have always been affiliated. Opposing word and image is largely a Western reflex. Word and image are inseparable. Poets, philosophers and painters speak a common language. From the second part of the 20^th Century on, Belgium has played a unique part in the ongoing dialogue between art and language. No other country has given the word such dominance in image-, object- and concept art. The pieces of René Magritte, Cobra, Christian Dotremont, Marcel Broodthaers, Jef Geys, Denmark, Fred Eerdekens, Patrick Corillon, Gaston De Mey and many others, exist by grace of the word. The notorious ‘blue bic’-art of Jan Fabre is a variation on the same theme. Contemporary artists like Wim Delvoye, Thierry De Cordier en Stefaan Van Biesen integrate word and image, driven by a hyper individual world experience. Brieven uit Schoorisse (Letters from Schoorisse) and Brieven aan een Boom (Letters to a Tree) evaporate the image, only words remains. The pieces of these artists let us participate in a systematic, incessant doubt. Thierry De Cordier isolates himself in his kitchen garden. Through his writing, reporting a complete recoil, the artist wishes to erase himself. In Brieven uit Schoorisse (1988-1998) only landscapes, silence and absence remain. Writing as revocation. 

With the 2002 project ‘Verticale Stromen’ (Vertical Streams), the public library of the Belgian Bredene, invited seven contemporary artists tot express their views on libraries in and around the edifice. Each artist was asked to exploit a locker at the entrance… Stefaan Van Biesen labelled his locker ‘De droom van de tuinman III’ (The Dream of the Gardener III). His displayed a small garden with blooming words. The shoes of the gardener (librarian) stood solitary in the garden. Van Biesen suggests a librarian who encourages the growth of words in a library as a public garden. The artist also presented ‘De gemarkeerde tijd’ (Marked Time): a remarkable book table. A roadmap to the imagination was drawn on the tabletop. On the map, books were drenched in honey, the table’s legs stood in honey pots. Figuratively speaking, honey pours over the books and the table. A library catches the honey (imagination) and offers it to its visitors.

…Stefaan Van Biesen collaborated with some youngsters on a gigantic map of the imagination, placed up against large terrace doors. ‘Het land van Zijn, is… (The Land of Being, is…) mapped young people’s emotional world and built figurative bridges to the countries of the other participants…