Found Library, 2024-ongoing

Participatory project

Found Library, is a space for walking with, listening with, playing with, and imagining with more-than-human objects. Our collection is comprised of things encountered and collected by three artists (Isa Pengskul, Jerald Lim, and Zhai Qiutong) in their everyday lives. The wide range of objects on display can be loaned out so audiences can respond to and explore with the object over a period of time. This is an invitation to learn with things beyond mere observation.

In December 2024, Found Library was hosted at @starch.sg, where we had ample space to play with our found more-than-human kin.

In the spirit of being a library, we organised objects, placing them within closed organic shapes that had labels like "house," "patterns," and "waves." Unlike a regular library, these labels were very open to interpretation - what should lie at the intersection of "temple," "vessel," and "crash"? One visitor decided that a seed pod with two little balls (one blue and hand painted, the other a seed of sorts) would fit the bill, so she placed the objects there. Another visitor added to the composition by moving objects from a different category over to sit next to the pod, thereby altering the meaning and interpretations of the objects already there. Rather than a static archive, the library was a palimpsest: things were moved, assembled, found, introduced, and lost.

In June 2024, Found Library was at @islands.peninsula. Though our space was small, we took objects on walks, partied with them, and more. Several members of the public borrowed objects and subsequently contributed poems, sculptures, installations, drawings, and photographs made with objects from the collection. Their work formed part of our collection, too.

Found Library currently does not have a physical space, but we continue to build our online archive at foundlibrary.net. We have ambitions reshape the website into an immersive and interactive experience where visitors can manipulate and play with objects.