ICC





Preface
Admission
Works
Participation Artist's
Related Events




Artists' Talk 9 / 18 (Fri.)
Artists' Talk 9 / 25 (Fri.)
Artists' Talk 10 / 2 (Fri.)
Artists' Talk 10 / 10 (Sat.)
Film Showing
Catalog

September 18 (Friday) - October 25 (Sunday), 1998 [Finished] Gallery A, D, Theater





Preface


This library does not require a good intention such as to seriously read a book, study, or gain knowledge. This is because all the books in this library are illegible. Some books are filled with odd characters that no one knows while others are lined with rows of characters that may be legible but make no sense. All you have to do is to relax, take a look, and smile or frown. This library is not for knowledge, but for spiritual freedom.
Jorge Luis Borges' literature has captivated readers with its penetrating vision. He provides a telescopic view of dimly lit Earth, as though seen from a distance through the darkness of space. His vision is so sharp that it penetrates the caves of the heart. He takes his readers on an adventure into spiritual darkness that modern society has kept concealed.

Borges wrote a short story titled "The Library of Babel." In this work, Borges compares space to a library that spreads infinitely. Like a beehive, this library has an infinite number of hexagonal reading rooms that are stacked vertically and horizontally. Never will anyone find an exit from this library. Librarians live and work here for the rest of their lives.
In essence, this library is a model of our world. This library holds all the possible combinations of 20 and some symbols, or essentially all that can be expressed by all the languages. It is said that there is no problem for which there is not a solution somewhere in this library.

Babel is a story of confusion with languages written in The Book of Genesis in the Old Testament. Jahwe, who became upset with the arrogance of man who began building a tower in an attempt to reach heaven, descended to earth to disrupt the language. From then on, man had more than one language, and experienced difficulties in communicating with one another.

Since The Library of Babel contains every conceivable information, it is unorganized to the point of reaching the state of Babel. In another one of his works called "Book of Sand," Borges writes about a single book that can replace all other books, a book with infinite number of pages that constitute the world itself. The pages in this book are randomly numbered so the reader never reaches the end of the book. This may be Borges' way of saying that the world is infinite and is essentially the same as Babel.

The more knowledge and information we gain, the more we become entrapped in a labyrinth like Babel. Borges' works expand the horizons of our creativity and take us from libraries and books to even problems with modern media such as databases and the World Wide Web. While this exhibition does not directly trace Borges' works, it is an attempt to see in the contemporary society, which can be compared to a Babel of information, how such media as characters, books, and images function or fail to function. This exhibition focuses, however, on works by artists whose intention is to view the tradition of characters and writings from slightly different angles. Is it not the spirit of humor that gives us the courage not to accept a matter as a given, but to take a slightly off-the-track approach? (For example, Chinese characters, which are hieroglyphic characters, sometimes reveal playfulness beyond their required functions. As opposed to the Western black humor, it may be regarded as "yellow humor.")

While The Library of Babel is not a practical library or a reservoir of knowledge, it is our hope that visitors will find it a library of enjoyable information, where they can find a niche of playfulness in a stuffy world.