Friday 22 January 2010

Your library needs you!

Help us build an interactive bibliography with your suggested library materials.

Progress Reports: art in an era of diversity explores and interrogates cultural diversity in the arts in the last 15 years. During the exhibition we are asking all visitors to the Stuart Hall Library to help us build an interactive bibliography composed of your suggestions of library materials.

We want to know:



• What library materials have influenced your research and/or practice.?

• What materials are relevant to you in regards to interrogating/exploring/documenting the topic of cultural diversity?

• What artists and examples of their work in this library have been particularly informative or outstanding?


Your suggestions can be a book, an article, a journal, a person from our artist files, an exhibition catalogue, a monograph, a report, an image, a talk/event, a film, a resource pack, a thesis/dissertation – anything at all from the Stuart Hall Library resource! Please send us your suggested titles with a brief note and comments explaining its importance to you.

You can find out what we have in our library resource by searching our online catalogue

To take part and submit your suggestions for the bibliography you can:

• Fill our a form and hand it into a member of library staff
• Email your suggestions library@iniva.org
• Or leave your suggestions and comments in the comment box for this blog post.


Your contributions will be added to our bibliography and will help us build a working bibliography for the Iniva public with a display of these selected materials throughout the exhibition.

Building Bibliographies

It is the last week of installation before Iniva's exhibition
Progress Reports: art in an era of diversity previews Wednesday 27th January, and the library is coming alive!

As part of the public programme the library is working with performance poet Joyful Noise in a research project culminating in a unique live performancein the library Saturday 20th February. Joyful Noise (aka Charlie Weinberg) has been working with the librarians researching the work of Iniva, looking through the archives,and exploring themes of cultural diversity. Her journey through the library has taken her from Arts Council reports, to the works of Ghada Amer, from articles by Eddie Chambers to works by Zarina Bhimji. Charlie is weaving and threading her own unique map through the library collections and creating poems accompanied by an audiovisual presentation in collaboration with artist Trevor Mathison.

Charlie has been documenting her research project so far and here is a sneak peek into her library experience.

The Iniva archive



Inside the archive



Exploring the library stacks


Ghada Amer's exhibition catalogues


States of Exchange,Iniva 2008.


The Ghost of Songs: The art of the Black Audio Film Collective, Liverpool University Press 2007.


The Unmapped Body:3 Black British Artists, Yale University Art Gallery, 1999


Sonia Boyce exhibition information


Redwhiteblue: Here/There/Everywhere, MCCM Creations 2005.



Let the canvas come to life with dark faces, Herbert Art Gallery 1990.


Books waiting to be catalogued


Charlie is working with the librarians to compile all the resources used in the research project and final performance as part of an ongoing bibliography which will be available to view online.

While the Stuart Hall Library is a fantastic and unique resource vital to Iniva's exploration of cultural diversity, it is by no means a definitive collection. Charlie's research is now beginning to broach the topic of the missing voices/texts/ histories from the library and is questionning the gaps in the collection as a means of questionning the missing voices in the wider exploration of cultural diversity. Throughout the exhibition and during Charlie's research and performance project, we are inviting our library visitors to engage with the representation of cultural diversity within the library collections. While the librarians continue to work with Charlie we will explore together examples of the voices and histories missing from this library and will be encouraging all members of the public to do the same.

Throughout the exhibition we will be compiling an annotated bibliography identifying specific key resources that explore notions of cultural diversity, includinging those key resources currently missing from this collection based on suggestings from the public. We will be updating the library blog and website shortly with more information on how to take part and how add your own contributions to the interactive Progress Reports bibliography.

Thursday 7 January 2010

The library breaks its silence

When the Stuart Hall Library was asked to contribute ideas of supporting the upcoming Iniva exhibition Progress Reports: art in an era of diversity, the library began to look at ways we could highlight this unique resource. The library has always provided supporting material for Iniva exhibitions and events through project bibliographies and displays of library and archive material. The library staff play the role of explorer, sorting through library materials and hidden gems in the archive in order to provide further research material for staff and visitors.

But Progress Reports required something more. In 2008, Stuart Hall, the founding chair of Iniva and Rivington Place asked "... Is the era and the goal of ‘cultural diversity' in the arts now over? Has the globalisation of the art world - "let a thousand biennales bloom" - 'solved' the problem? The Progress Reports exhibition explores the concept of cultural diversity over the last 15 years since Iniva was founded and the library wanted to contribute something more than just a reading list.

We wanted to bring alive the unique aspects of this library collection, uncovering new art histories and amplifying the voices of the people in this resource. A bibliography could demonstrate the key texts in the recent history of cultural diversity, but a live performance could interpret and interrogate the resource and cultural diversity policies.


Live Bibliographies: Performing the Text is a research project with performance poet Joyful Noise. In collaboration with the librarians and Obinna Nwosu, Joyful Noise has undergone a period of research using the library and archive exploring artists, policies, reports, academic texts, images, talks, and exhibitions focusing on cultural diversity. This research period will culminate in a free live performance in the Stuart Hall Library, Saturday 20th February 2:30pm.

Live Bibliographies has been an exciting research project for the librarians with our reference skills contributing to a unique live performance. The event will feature new pieces by Joyful Noise with an audiovisual collaboration with artist Trevor Mathison. Joyful Noise uncovers lost voices, illuminates new art histories, and playfully interacts with the lexicon of heritage and identity present in the library resource. Her work focuses on translating and playfully engaging with the formal language used to express cultural diversity policies.

Live Bibliographies will of course be supported by an annotated bibliography created by Joyful Noise in collaboration with the librarians. The annotated bibliography will act as a map for the library, threading links between each resource and documenting this original research experience.



The library event is free, to book a place contact bookings@rivingtonplace.org 0207 749 1240. We will be documenting the progress of this research project in the run up to the event, please continue to check the blog for further information.

Monday 4 January 2010

Hollywood Librarian: Take 2



I am pleased to announce that Hollywood Librarian: Take 2 will be our second in a series of events which explores the representation of librarians in film, literature, and the media in contrast to the changing role of the library as a social institution.

This is a free event for librarians as well as those interested in film studies, gender, and represesentation. Hollywood Librarian: Take 2 is being held at the Stuart Hall Library, Rivington Place, London on Monday 1st March 2010 10:30am - 5pm. Booking is free and includes refreshments and lunch. To book a place please contact bookings@rivingtonplace.org, 0207 749 1240. For further information please contact Holly Callaghan library@iniva.org, 0207 7749 1255.

Hollywood Librarain: Take 2 will again feature 2 film screenings that represent the library profession in very different ways. The event will also feature a panel discussion in which 3 selected librarians/institutions will provide presentations and discuss ways of transforming misconceptions of libraries.

Our first Hollywood Librarian event was extremely well attended and focused on identifying the major stereotypes associated with librarians featured in the media. This sequel event will explore the cinematic representations further as well as providing group discussions and examples of libraries that seek to actively transform these misconceptions.

In the weeks leading up to this event I will be posting relevant articles, suggested filmographies, and case studies for points of discussion, as well as further information about the two films we will be screening so stay tuned!