Minibieb Labgrond

by Morgan Macdonald

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Minibieb Labgrond is a site-specific design installation that responds to the rapid change happening in the Binckhorst by installing a ‘little free library’ (or ‘minibieb’) in the Labgrond park. The project builds on what researchers Apsara Flury and Livio Liechti term the "infrastructural promise" of street libraries: the idea that minibiebs perform structurally significant acts, it refuses the logic of access-by-subscription at a moment when knowledge is increasingly enclosed by paywalls, algorithms, and institutional gatekeeping.

The library is housed in a repurposed agricultural guard house and curated around three texts: Z by Vasilis Vassilikos, Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino, and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, each selected for its resonance with the political, social, and ecological conditions of the Binckhorst specifically. Guided worksheets, a lamp, cushions, and a guest book create a spatial reading experience and encourage the unmonetized exchange of knowledge.

The project situates itself within a lineage of artists, including Theaster Gates and Muge Yilmaz, who have mobilized the library as a political object and community infrastructure, while remaining rooted in the specific histories and futures of this neighbourhood.

Morgan Macdonald