Did you know that Marcel Duchamp was a librarian at the Sainte-Genevieve Library in Paris for some months? Having completed his course in library science at l’Ecole des Chartes, Duchamp started work as an intern at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in April or May of 1912, and as remembered: “It was a wonderful job, because I had so many hours to myself.” As the book Duchamp à la bibliothèque Ste Geneviève by Yves Peyre and Évelyne Toussaint explains, Duchamp took advantage of the library’s research facilities during this period to carry out the only serious, sustained reading that he would ever do in his life.
And as our festival has been held in libraries for 7 years now, this also seems like the perfect link between our theme for this edition!
So if you are around, come join us at our presentation of this year’s festival at the Royal Library in Copenhagen, on Sept. 17 and Sept. 18!
And stay tuned about our theme Seriality – Multiplicity – Repetition which will include a special focus on Duchamp and his boîtes, in the context of bookmaking.
