Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine – A library of living books
Information
In Mette Edvardsen’s Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine — A library of living books, a group of performers have each memorized a book they themselves have chosen. Together, they make up a library of living books, which members of the public can experience in one-to-one situations. osloBIENNALEN presents a selection of ‘books’ from the collection.
*Due to the current restrictions caused by the COVID-19 situation, drop-ins as well as visits at "the library of living books" is temporarily unavailable.
Between 28 November-6 December 2020 "Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine" adds a new element to the project, living books are available as letters. Click here to read more. Sign-up to receive a letter is open now.
Curious to know how it is to meet a living book? Click on the video below for a quick introduction.
Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine — A library of living books
What is a book? Is it the cover, the paper, the typeface, the language type, the sentences or the words? If we turn the question around, we might ask where a book ends. Mette Edvardsen’s project for osloBIENNALEN reminds us that a book is very much a social affair. Someone has written it for you, someone else has worked on it at the publisher’s and at the bookshop; you are unlikely to be the only person to read it. Whether it’s an exciting crime thriller, a serial novel from the supermarket shelves, a poetry collection, or one of the classics, we talk to other people about the books we read. But what happens in a society where books are forbidden?
Edvardsen has been inspired by the 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the story of a society where books are prohibited and burnt – books burn at 451 degrees Fahrenheit. In the novel, people learn books by heart so they can pass them on orally. In Mette Edvardsen’s project a whole library of living books have each learnt one book by heart. The books live on in these people, and each will pass his/her book on to you if you will only listen. Because a book is much more than the cover, the paper – a good book lives on in whoever reads it, or has had it read to them.
To read more about the artist, watch interviews and read the dedicated essay written by Frøydis Århus click here.
TITLES IN THE LIVING LIBRARY (2019)
The selection of titles varies from week to week, but the following titles were available in Oslo between 25th May - 27th October 2019:
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues - Tom Robbins
Against the forgetting, Selected poems - Hans Faverey
Verzamelde Gedichten - Hans Faverey
Orlando - Virginia Woolf
Handbook of Disappointed Fate - Anne Boyer
Faust, Der Tragoedie Erster Teil - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The tragical history of Dr Faustus - Christopher Marlowe
Bartleby the Scrivener - Herman Melville
Pianolærerinnen - Elfriede Jelinek
The Waves - Virginia Woolf
Hakkepølsa - Torgny Lindgren
Answered Prayers - Truman Capote
Elskeren - Marguerite Duras
L’Amant - Marguerite Duras
Sataniske vers - Salman Rushdie
I am a Cat - Soseki Natsume
Aesop's Fables - Aesop
Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
Crash - J. G. Ballard
نصف العالم غسان كنفاني
Orlando - Virginia Woolf
Four Quartets - TS Eliot
The Little Prince - Antoine de St Exupéry
The True Deceiver - Tove Jansson
Métaphysiques des tubes - Amélie Nothomb
Seltsame Sterne Starren zur Erde - Emine Sevgi Özdamar
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Autobiography of Red - Anne Carson
In the Skin of A Lion - Michael Ondaatje
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
A Plague of Tics - David Sedaris
Thomas F’s siste nedtegnelser til allmennheten - Kjell Askildsen
Dagbok, upublisert - Margit Slaatto
Onkel Oswald - Roald Dahl
With:
Adriano Wilfert Jensen
Alexandra Napier
Angela Goh
Bruno de Wachter
Caroline Daish
Emmilou Rößling
Frøydis Århus
Jon Refsdal Moe
Katja Dreyer
Kristien Van den Brande
Kristine Øren
Lizzie Thomson
Mari Matre Larsen
Marit Ødegaard
Mette Edvardsen
Martin Slaatto
Moqapi Selassie
Philip Holyman
Razan Akramawy
Rhiannon Newton
Roza Moshtaghi
Sébastien Hendrickx
Simon Asencio
Siriol Joyner
Sonia Si Ahmed
Staffan Eek
Tom Engels
Ulf Nilseng