living library of becomings

Opening: Thursday, February 29, 7 pm
Opening times: Wed – Sat 14:00-18:00
and by appointment (info@vbkoe.org)

Paloma Ayala, Nikita Yingqian Cai, Kyungrim Lim Jang & Hannah Sakai, Tina Omayemi Reden, Salma Shaka, Kanako Tada, Sophie Utikal, VOLUMES Archive, and diverse publishing practices

Curated by Miwa Negoro
Exhibition design by Shi Yin

living library of becomings is a group exhibition derived from a performative library project dedicated to multiple narratives of intersectional, decolonial, queer feminist spirits. It draws inspiration from influential writings, Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s DICTEE, and Audre Lorde’s Uses of the Erotic that challenge the binary confines of destructive colonial modernity to transcend geopolitical, linguistic, and spiritual boundaries while nurturing an emancipatory power from within. Weaving together the resonating voices, the exhibition features the works that explore the shape-shifting bodies of water, thoughts, languages, and feelings as the fluid, transformative agency. It embraces the margin, the liminal, and its relation as an assemblage, recognizing the affects of proximity, displacement, and (dis)orientation in the moment of grief, loss, and liberation.

living library of becomings is a portal of encounters, bridging the past, and the present, to the future of intergenerational and transcultural feminist imaginations. Taking a library, as a living archival practice of voices, it transfers and shares the process of (un)becoming through knowing, listening, and touching, as something plural. The visitor is invited to spend their time reading a selection of textual materials from the library, including various artistic zines and collective publishing practices. During the exhibition, the space will be activated by a talk, performative interaction, somatic reading session, and reading performance.

The library includes the selection from VBKÖ Archive, Kunstraum Niederösterreich Library, VOLUMES Archive, and Mai Ling Library.

The performative library started in 2020, and its research phase is supported by the School of Commons (SoC), a community-learning space, located at the Zurich University of the Arts, in 2023-2024. The exhibition is supported by Culture Moves Europe, a project funded by the European Union.