You can now check out artwork from the Brooklyn Public Library
Department of Transformation: Letters for the Future. All photos by Gregg Richards
New Yorkers can now borrow artwork from the Brooklyn Public Library as part of a new program and exhibition. Curated together with the Department of Transformation, “Letters for the Future” celebrates the library as one of the few remaining “intellectual, creative, and civic commons still freely available” with work from over 40 artists. As part of the exhibition, on view through January 25, library cardholders can check out artwork, including paintings, sculptures, zines, and more, for a three-week period.
Letters for the Future embraces an “open-source ethos” to share conceptual and aesthetic “tools” for public library-goers. The exhibition looks at art and design, and the themes of collectivity, learning, healing, and resistance they foster, as powerful agents of transformation.
At a time when rapidly evolving communication and intelligence technologies are reshaping how we create and share information, Letters for the Future explores the shifting role of language and text as both artistic subject and material.
To expand access and encourage exploration of our ever-changing technological and political landscape, the exhibition and its accompanying programs seek to reframe how we imagine collective futures.
Echoing this commitment to accessibility, 20 works will be available to borrow with a BPL card for a three-week period, reviving a program first piloted in the 1970s. The library intends to use this pilot program as an experiment, receiving feedback from cardholders to guide its art-lending program moving forward, according to TimeOut.
In 2022, the library’s Central branch launched a new program that allows patrons to browse and borrow vinyl from its record collection. Teen and adult cardholders can check out up to three records at a time for a period of three weeks.
Participating artists include Abäke, Alysha Naples, Andrew Samuel Harrison, Asad Raza, Ashleigh Abbott, Athena Kokoronis, Be Oakley / GenderFail Press, Blair Simmons, Demian DinéYazhi’, Dexter Sinister, Emeka Ogboh, Erik White, Ernesto Cabral de Luna, Hilma’s Ghost, Ilana Harris-Babou, and Infected Lexicon of Language.
Additional participants include James Kusel, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Kaela Mei-Chee Chambers, Katie Holten, Kevin Quiles Bonilla, Lize Mogel, Mark Foss, Monica Bonvicini & Sam Durant, outgoing, Prem Krishnamurthy, Qasim Naqvi, Rick Griffith, Shanzhai Lyric, Sharmistha Ray, Tamar Halpern, Tamara Sussman, Timmy Simonds, Tré Seals + Civilization, William Dilworth, Zoe Pettijohn Schade, and others.
Founded by designer, author, educator, and curator Prem Krishnamurthy, the Department of Transformation is an artist-organized collective that explores new models of togetherness, learning, and collective healing. Through workshops, events, publications, and commissions, the group supports individuals and communities in their own processes of change.
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