Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller are known for their all-encompassing installations — like the awesomely spooky one they did for Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, Pandemonium. This 2008 piece, The House of Books Has No Windows, is an installation of a house, made entirely out of antique books. Commissioned by Modern Art Oxford and the Fruitmarket Gallery, the house was created to offer ” … a space of infinite possibility where nothing may be read yet everything imagined. The work has no windows and in the absence of external stimulation, we must imagine the worlds of the books, and hear the voice in our head that talks to us when we read.” The piece was constructed over three week’s time and is composed of four different library collections gathered from across Scotland. As the video after the jump details, these books were going to be pulped, but Cardiff and Miller have rescued them to use as bricks for their house. Click on to find out how it was constructed.
Image credit: Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller/Photo credit: Andy Keate [Spotted via My Modern Met]
Image credit: Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller/Photo credit: Andy Keate