The Library and the Reconstruction of Discarded History

Abstract

The contemporary public library is a proactive performative space that liberates creative energies to challenge warped social and political dynamics. Yet the collective identity of the library still reflects an image of book repositories. The collections, which are less and less browsed, potentially become the material for creative stimulation. As library programming is rooted in its socio-political context, the ambiguity and contradictions within post-soviet Hungary present interesting experiments. Two Budapest-based exhibitions, Concrete and Dead Library, reflect on the socialist (written) heritage while encouraging visitors to think critically about their discarded history, and especially their present.