Artist:  Jim Sanborn

Title:  "Libros"

Medium:  Sculpture - Installation

Size:  5' x 15' x 3'

Year Installed:  2001

Venue:  Northwest Regional Library

Artist Jim Sanborn created 'Libros' for the lobby of the Northwest Regional Library. Based on the 3000-year old history of the written word, the artwork is comprised of three elements, a tall suspended bronze scroll ( 4' wide, 28" high), a long serpentine copper screen (5' high, 16" long) and the planting of papyrus grass outside of the library (which has been discontinued). The screen, measuring 5'H x 15'L x 3'D and situated at the center of the lobby, is perforated with a text passage drawn from 'Natural History' by the Roman historian Pliny describing the Egyptian process of making paper from papyrus and with the binary (computer code) conversion of the same Latin passage. The suspended scroll, measuring 28'H x 3'W x 3'D, is perforated with texts chosen for their literary and historical significance including 'The Magna Charta, Don Quixote' by Cervante;. 'The Dialogue' by Galileo, 'War and Peace' by Tolstoy, 'Kasihta Legend' delivered by Tchikilli, Chief of the creek Indians; 'The Origin of Species' by Darwin; and 'Residence on Earth', a poem by Neruda. The scroll suspended in a corner of the foyer appears to pass through the ceiling and falls to the floor, curling up at the bottom.

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