News & Events

Have you ever wondered how much space 10,000 books would take up? This fall you’ll have the chance to find out! The Grunwald Gallery of Art in the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts is mounting a show of eminent contemporary artist Buzz Spector’s work, featuring 8,850 books from the Ruth Lilly Auxiliary Library Facility’s collections, and 900 dissertations in the arts and humanities disciplines from the Fine Arts Library and Herman B Wells Library.

Lecture: Buzz Spector: Off the Shelf - Lecture by Buzz Spector
October 19, 2012 (5:00 PM - 6:00 PM)
Location: FA 102

Reception: Buzz Spector: Off the Shelf - Opening Reception
October 19, 2012 (6:00 PM - 8:00 PM)
Location: Grunwald Gallery

Roundtable: Books, Text and Information
October 24, 2012 (6:00 PM - 7:30 PM)
Location: Fine Arts Library Reading Room


“Buzz Spector: Off the Shelf,” opening October 19th at the Grunwald Gallery, features both Spector's large, sculptural installations of books and his Polaroid works. The installations, including The Library of Babel, comprised of 4,500 books, and a piece featuring books by Indiana University authors, are all borrowed from Indiana University's libraries. These installations invite commentary on the logic and poetry of the arrangement of books, and ask the audience to consider the function of the book object. His oversized Polaroid prints further investigate the themes of meaning and form, authorship and ownership, and the physical experience of reading.

During the gallery opening, Spector will be signing his recent book "Buzzwords: Interviews with Buzz Spector." This selection of six interviews spanning nearly thirty years showcases Spector's ideas about art, books, libraries and his own history of reading. Spector describes and elucidates his installations, book objects and photographs within an intellectually rich context, provoking stimulating conversation and thought. Spector has designed new page art especially for this publication, including a section that he has individually hand-torn for each book.

Spector is an eminent figure in the artists' book and book arts communities and an internationally known artist and writer. He has published numerous artists' books as well as editing the critical volume The Book Maker's Desire: Writings on the Art of the Book. Spector has lent his critical voice to numerous publications, including American Craft, Artforum, Art Issues, Art on Paper, Exposure and New Art Examiner. He is also a co-founder of the magazine WhiteWalls. Among his many awards, Spector received a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in 2005. He also received Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowships in 1991, 1982, and 1985, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Award in 1991. He is currently the dean of the College and Graduate School of Art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

The exhibition is part of a broader discussion of the relevance and role of books and libraries in the arts and humanities. The Fine Arts Library will host a panel discussion on October 24th: "Books, Text and Information" will broach such topics as the future of the book, the importance of stacks and browsing, and forms of scholarly production and authorship. Panel members include Ron Day, Associate Professor of Library and Information Science, Ian Meares, Visiting Assistant Professor of Ceramics, and Dawna Schuld, Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Art, and moderator Emilee Mathews, Interim Director of the Fine Arts Library. Receptions in the Fine Arts Library and the Grunwald Gallery will follow.

This program is sponsored by the College Arts and Humanities Institute, Indiana University Libraries, the Fine Arts Library, and the Ruth Lilly Auxiliary Library Facility.