To me, libraries are an undervalued privilege housing an abundance of knowledge and potential. If one day, a person decides they want to become an expert on the human anatomy, all they have to do is take time out, visit the library, use the library resources and read up on the human anatomy. It seems that simple. This seems so obvious, but it is a privilege in which we are extremely lucky to have.
At first I was unsure what to expect from the Great Central Library as a site of performance. A building in which most of us are familiar with, most of us use it’s facilities on a day to day basis. However on reflection I realised that through all the time I use the library I have never explored it. Exploring the library when thinking in terms of performance opened my eyes to the endless possibilities the library enabled for performance art. I was amazed to find so many visually striking openings and hideaways that encompassed the building. On exploration it seemed to appear mystifying, the building itself seems to house such potential for art, performance and fantasy which coexist with the literature and physical information that the building holds. It became clear as I sat in an unnoticeable alcove on the stairwell in the library that art is happening all around this building. After sitting and listening to library users come past the alcove in the stairs, I created a literary soundtrack that symbolised life on the library stairwell. The stairwell appeared to become a personal space to library users, as people popped out to make private phone calls, walked past having conversations with friends, or simply to just get from A to B. From the simple 15 minutes in which I sat and listened, a vast community was created in my soundtrack. Already I had heard three different languages spoken, different stories, different people. All in one joint community.
