Heide Hinrichs, Jo-Ey TangShelf Documents: Art Library As Practice

Between a reference book, an artist’s book, the documentation of a project and a catalogue, it is reminiscent of a pamphlet, a map or a recipe book that does not give instructions. It is a work that lends itself to being “misplaced”.

shelf documents derives from the project second shelf , a collaborative bibliographic acquisition project initiated by artist Heide Hinrichs in 2018 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, together with a group of advisors.

Artists, writers, curators, teachers and librarians reflect on how they can use the beloved library as a source of inspiration or as a field of action for anyone who identifies as female, queer, non-binary or person of colour. Reflecting on diversity in collections, the publication proposes art libraries as sites of intersubjective communion. It is a collaborative book acquisition project, initiated by artist Heide Hinrichs at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, in which her group incorporated 223 new titles into art libraries to fill gaps, amplify voices, and seek out those who have taken the initiative or been overlooked.