“Future Library of Worries Hopes and Dreams” Alma Louise Visscher and Taryn Kneteman
The Future Library of Worries, Hopes and Fears is a participatory sculptural collection about lending and borrowing, memory, and comfort. Taking inspiration from a literary library, a place containing books for reading, study, and reference, the project is part atelier, part open stacks, part daydreaming area.
Current objects in the library inventory includes: two and three-dimensional fabric-based sculptures which would be installed on the wall and floor, a wire mobile that will be suspended from the ceiling, and a range of small sculptures. The Future Library of Worries, Hopes and Fears aspires to be accessible to everyone who requires use of the collection. We hope to inspire queries into the meaning of ownership, collective resources, and the relationships between materials and emotions.
Taryn Kneteman and myself began creating Future Library of Worries, Hopes and Fears during the 2019 Mitchell Art Gallery Summer Residency Series in Edmonton. From June 3-29, 2019 we inhabited the gallery as a studio space, which was open to the public during regular hours. We facilitated two public workshops, titled Dream Tool Testing and Sinking into a mattress. During the first workshop we
invited participants to answer questionnaires, anonymously or in consultation with us. We referred back to the text responses as inspiration to create sculptures for the collection. The second workshop Sinking into a mattress, was an opportunity for members of the public to interact with and use the objects.
