The net is bursting with all kinds of images, but what are we really interested in? The Image Library wants to know.

Before Instagram mania The Image Library was a participatory art project that used social media and email to pass out an open invitation for contributions of found internet images to add to the library's collection. The images were displayed on The Image Library website and were also amalgamated into books, and this is where The Image Library took on a physical existence. Transforming the virtual into the tangible, The Image Library was also an installation that created a viewing platform for the books of contributed images, and a pop-up social space.

The objective of The Image Library was to unify the roles of artist and viewer and make the creative process and space open for all to participate. The Image Library was very much a socially charged project. The internet is now such an integral part of everyday life, where information can be accessed readily and new social connections can be forged, but at the same time its use is an occupation that involves physical alienation. The Image Library took a popular aspect of the internet and introduced it into a physical space, where face-to-face social interactions could take place. In this way, The Image Library transformed the virtual into something tangible and humanising, with the added benefit of preserving images that would otherwise have a fleeting and temporary presence on the internet.

 

http://theimagelibrary.weebly.com

10th Oct - 10th Nov 2011
Installation in Building 2, RMIT City Campus, Melbourne.
23rd Nov - 9th Dec 2011
Exhibited at 2011 RMIT Bachelor of Fine Arts-Painting Graduation Show

14th - 18th Feb 2012

It's Not You, It's Me (group exhibitions)