Summary

Unbound is a library-- a temple to human thought, altered by time, space and energy and collaged with over 3000 deconstructed books infusing the piece with a debris field of musings. Emanating from the walls are recorded readings contributed by individuals from around the world. This piece is meant to reveal the boundless potential of human thought, creativity and collaboration as well as question how time can change our understanding of what once was fact.

Unbound will open its doors for the first time at Burning Man 2020.

Physical Description

In the multiverse, havoc has created the Unbound library, a 3-room building that defies its purpose and its state of being. Is it disintegrating or under construction? The open, criss-crossing roof beams expose the library to the elements; and the walls, void of book shelves, are clad in old book parts.  This space becomes a visual, physical and conceptual backdrop for spoken words that emanate from the walls--words, poems, writings--that have been contributed by people around the world.

Ascending the stairs, one chooses to enter one of three arched doors, each of which introduces a different human path: the physical, the spiritual or the intellectual. The doors look through the building to the rising sun, while shadows are woven from the slatted roof. Sconces and glowing chandeliers of book pages hang in each room. There are benches and stairs for sitting. A library table and curiosity cabinets, with found and created book objects, offer further reflection into the materials.  

Interactivity

Unbound is a visual amalgam of colors, textures and words that brings human creativity alive through spoken word recordings. Sound will quietly emanate, allowing visitors to listen to poetry and original writings from contributors in multiple languages. The walls of deconstructed books and the curiosity cabinets create thought-provoking references to our existence. Memories will be ignited, new ideas will be formed.

Philosophy

The debris field of stars --carbon, oxygen, iron and gold--are the raw materials that make up our world, both cosmologically and biologically. Unbound's materials are a combination of cosmological debris combined with the debris field of human thought. The words and illustrations in these books, decommissioned from libraries and discarded from estates, have a power in both their documentation of an individual's ideas and in their often obsolete historical perspective. Like the debris of stars, these materials have been processed through time, space and energy and reconstituted into this work of art.

Jules’ art has always paid homage to the ideas, sources, materials and people that inspire her. There is an acknowledgement that no art today comes from a vacuum; we each create based on who we are and what we experience, but also to what we see in our visually overexposed world. We want our piece to reflect the vision, craft and ideas of those makers--the writers, book binders and illustrators who came before us.

To help create this piece, please fill out the form under Contact.