Check out Blu-Dot....They Have some interesting stuff.

thanx dierxap

has some nice shelving...

And although they're more general millwork than just shelving, i've been drooling over the work of Kerf Design.

...and of course there's always elfa

i've wanted to get or replicate this shelving for a while.

http://www.mossonline.com/info-exec/display/vitsoe

this is cool, i dont
know where it's from
dont' copy!

What sucks is that all the books have gone to waste. I doubt you are able to remove any books.

Unless they sacrificed a few select books for structural support, and then the rest could be manoeuvred like Jenga!

Isn't Jenga the architect's game anyhow?

rock it George Nelson style

That is inspirational, Jenga! I agree that the books need not be sacrificial, but could be used as infill. Bookshelf, desk, why does there need to be a difference?

I meant, Client. Damn higherness got be thinking of Jenga, and I screwed up.

I saw this exhibit in 2005 and used it as a precedent study. higherness, while it is true that the books go to waste, I think that (at least in the linked exhibit) that's the whole point.

you could use a horizontal wood block with book cover anchored to the wall creating a shelf for other books to be layed on top. this creates a nice strack of books on the wall without any exposed connections. or you could sacrifice a hardcover book you didn't like and bolt it directly to a wall bracket for the same effect.

i wish i had that many books to do an exhibit like that

Jakob + Macfarlane- Loewy Bookstore in Paris.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17556660@N00/366087963/

j

these are really cool, kudos to the artist

but oh so wasteful.... ....sad

you brought this thread back for that?

I'm considering getting a couple of these:

from the Container Store. Pretty sleek, especially considering the price.

I don't think that the monolithic book structure is wasteful. In fact, I think it is an innovative way to recycle books that would normally sit abandoned and unread at one of the thousand thrift stores around the nation. I feel it's safe to assume that the books the artist selected were probably used, inexpensive, and maybe even outdated in terms of data and information (old textbooks, computer related text, etc.)

Can art be wasteful? If so, how does one go about saying when art is wasteful and when it's functional? I don't know the answer but just trying to frame a possible discussion.

Ever been to a thrift store and been bombarded with hardback books from the 1960s? Ever been back 3 years later and seen the same books and then a million others next to it? A pal of mine had a little run-in with the cops his freshman year of college. He had to partake in community service hours and opted to work at a local thrift store. After he finished his necessary hours, he worked their part-time for the next 5 years because he enjoyed it so much. Books are one of the least selling items, although one of the most donated items. He said whenever they got a book load, they would end up tossing about 80% of the books into the trash can.

Oh yea, the glue on the spine of hardback books is extraordinarily toxic making them non-recycle friendly. You would have to tear out page by page to recycle the contents of a used hardback book.

n, that's a very good point. Another way to find such a resource, if one was willing to forgo the books actually having covers, is to get them from bookshops such as Borders or Barnes&Noble. Many people don't know this, but every week these shops throw away hundreds of books that haven't sold. They simply remove the covers and send those covers back to the distributors, who reimburse them the cost of those books that couldn't sell, and then throw away the actual meat of the book. So truly, there could be avenues of resource found for this sort of thing that could be seen as recycling otherwise wasted resources. But if the artist isn't so careful about material selection, it would indeed be a waste.

i don't think the art installation is wasteful at all.
as a matter of fact it critiques the wastefulness of useless books that are printed. books that are printed way over it's possible sales (ghost written bio's of high society), bad books, un necessary books, books that are abandoned, abused books, etc., etc.
it is like saying walter de maria's earth room is a waste of soil.

another fyi about border's/barnes and nobles or any bookstore actually. you know those 2o dollar copies of magazines such as domus or abitare etc. well they never sell those however, they also do not return them. they strip the cover of the unsold magazines and send them back to the distributor. the rest gets trashed. so make friends with the magazine jperson and have em save ya a few issues.

I just thought it would be more interesting as a temporary exhibit; maybe people could see the binding of a book they would like to have, and sign up to get the copy when the exhibit was done. I actually kind of doubt the artist would have been that careful in picking the books. I do like the aesthetic of it, but i still think it's wasteful (that doesn't mean it's not valuable).
I actually made that comment on the thread because I was looking for some shelving units to attach to office desks in a project. It was a reflex comment, and perhaps wasteful...

nice point about the glue though, n_