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This Artist is Distributing Mini Libraries of Zines and Collages

Artist Ventral is Golden is assembling portable libraries of art, zines, and writing and leaving them around Europe.
All images courtesy of Ventral is Golden

Art doesn’t just improve the quality of our lives—it’s necessary to the survival of the human animal. Whether we’re telling folktales, making music together, painting murals, or undertaking any other form of creativity, art strengthens the social ties that we depend on for our very survival. Ventral is Golden, whose seamless collages we’ve previously featured on The Creators Project, has a new project that aims to “create a communicative exchange between creatives to exemplify the social function of creating art and music.” In his Tiny Library project, Ventral is Golden invites artists to contribute to miniature art libraries that he’ll leave around Europe.

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Collage artist Jesse Treece, illustrator Damien Correll, and writer Damien Knightey are among the creatives who have submitted to Tiny Library so far. Ventral is Golden sourced artwork from his collaborators as well as former students from his days teaching graphic design in the UK. "Some of these students went onto university and others decided not to. I thought it would be a shame for the ones who didn’t continue their studies to give up on the idea of being able have an audience or network that would give them impetus to create more work,” he tells The Creators Project.  The works include zines and illustrations, as well as his own collages. They’re all packed up in old-school cassette cases.

He’s not too concerned about the libraries being raided by art thieves who, in keeping and not sharing the works, strip them from their social connections. “I think if you have something nice, it’s even nicer to give it away,” says Ventral is Golden. "I once made a series of illustrations for my girlfriend about how we first met in Portugal… when I gave them to her two months later, she accidentally left the originals on the Metro in Paris. I like the idea that they’re still circulating on a continuous loop underneath the city.”

"I suppose if there is an honour code it is to create a continuous loop of exchanges and collaborations, and to at least post and share something about the items that are taken," he writes. He’s still looking for the ideal place to launch the first Tiny Library. “I'm still travelling at the moment, collating new submissions, and on the look out for ideal environments that strike a balance between a love of art and an element of social interaction, so the libraries can thrive and exchanges can be made to their fullest potential.”

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To find out more about Tiny Library, as well as how you can submit your own work, click here.

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