Friday, June 24, 2011
Floating Library
MV Logos Hope [2] is operated by the German charitable organisation GBA Ships e.V. As the fourth ship operated by the organisation, she follows in the line of MV Logos, the wrecked hulk of which now sits on a rock shelf on the Chilean coast, MV Logos II which was retired in the fall of 2008 and which Logos Hope was designed to replace, and MV Doulos which was sold to a Singaporean interest in 2009.
Twice as big as any previous ship operated by the organisation, the ship was completely refitted over a period of 5 years. Logos Hope provides a better quality of life for crew as well as a wider range of activities for visitors and guests. The newly created Logos Hope Experience (which is situated on a deck that was installed into the original ferry’s car area) holds up to 800 visitors at any time, with capacity to host an additional 700 in the Hope Theatre and Logos Lounge. This publicly accessible deck offers visitors an introduction to the vessel and the organisation, a book fair featuring around 7,000 different titles, a visual presentation called the Journey of Life and the International Cafe.
Friday, June 03, 2011
Tower of Babel
Marta Minujin, Argentina's most famous artist, is known for artwork that is both out-sized and outlandish.
Her latest creation might also be described as vertigo-inducing, a spiraling, 25-meter-tall (82-foot) tower meant to pay homage to the written word.
In the Plaza San Martin, in the heart of the Argentine capital, Minujin has erected her latest work, ‘The Tower of Babel’ built from 30,000 books, most of them donations from some 50 embassies.
"I don't know why we have to have different languages," she says, adding that she sees her mission as an artist as being to "unite all people".
Unlike the thousands of tomes that form the basis of this current massive sculpture, she told the media ‘art needs no translation’.
An ‘enfant terrible’ of Argentina's art world who has cavorted during her career with the likes of Andy Warhol and Christo, Minujin is a celebrity who has exhibited all over the world.
She has been a mainstay of the country's avant-garde scene since the 1960s, famous for works that speak to the public's artistic sensibility, while at the same time tickling its funny bone.
"It's really amusing to be able to climb up and down a work of art," said Minujin, graced with emblematic white-blonde hair and ever-present sunglasses.
The unveiling this week of the soaring structure is timed to coincide with the Buenos Aires Book fair and the city's role this year as the World Book Capital 2011, a designation conferred by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Minujin, a native of Buenos Aires, where she was born in 1943, still lives and works in the Argentine capital, and her artwork is inspired by the motto that ‘everything is art’.
This latest work makes a thematic reference to an earlier piece of hers, an enormous ‘Parthenon’ of books censured by Argentina's dictatorship.
Much of her career was spent overseas, including long sojourns in New York and Paris, and over the years her work frequently was censored and banned, her hippie sensibility offending past military regimes.
Her first work, in 1963, ‘La Destruccion’ was mounted in Paris and was an early piece of performance art, and involved her eviscerating some of her own works, aided at the time by various friends.
She can scarcely believe that she received funding for this latest piece, in which the books are mounted on an enormous metal spiraling scaffold.
The books run the gamut from serious works of philosophy and children's fairy tales and everything in between.
"The United States donated 1,000 books. Ecuador gave 3,500," said Minujin.
She is still exultant as she shows off the enormous sculpture, floor by floor and book by book a work by Kafka in German, followed by texts in Japanese and in Russian, books of every size and color.
"Look, an anthology of French poetry!" she exclaimed, running up the spiraling stairs. Nearby there is another European work an old issue of Tintin: ‘The Calculus Affair.’
She notes that there is one part of the work which cannot be viewed from ground level: the breathtaking vistas of the Buenos Aires cityscape.
"Look at the view from this castle,” she exclaims.
"You can see as far away as the river," she exclaims, pointing to the majestic river, the Rio de la Plata, in the distance.
Like much of her work, she said the ‘Tower of Babel’ is meant to be not only imposing, but ephemeral, Minujin said.
The entire structure is to be disassembled on May 28.
"No one will ever again have a view from this exact place," she said.
Even when it's gone however, the tower will have a lasting legacy once taken apart, the books will form the basis of the first multilingual library in Buenos Aires.
"As of the 28th," said Minujin as she surveyed the Buenos Aires vista, "the people will be able to keep these books."
Redefining the Reading experience
- At Bookz �N� More our mission is to give back to the community the joy of reading and introduce more people and children to the magical world of books.
- We also conduct programs such as donation of books to underprivileged schools and children.
- We grant free memberships to our library for selected under privileged children.
- Partners and sponsors for our community give back programs are welcome!!!!
Libraries in Rural Areas
A book lover’s unique project to establish libraries in rural areas
Man’s quest for knowledge has led to the creation and accumulation of tremendous amount of information. This quest for knowledge knows no bounds and limits and is never satisfied. It has continued since the dawn of civilization to the modern age. This hard-earned knowledge and information is valuable for the entire mankind. Crores of books have been written by the wise people across the globe and they have been reaching the book lovers through libraries.
Urban areas have abundant libraries, even private libraries have been quenching the thirst of knowledge in cities. But rural areas are lacking in such libraries. Taluk and hobli centres may have libraries, but remote villages have been lacking them. Nowadays Grama Panchayat’s have been setting up libraries. Keeping this in mind, a book lover from Athiguppe near Vijayanagar here, has decided to set up libraries in rural areas through the Universal Charitable Trust. R. Upendra Shetty, trustee of the trust has come up with this admirable idea.
Setting up libraries or sending books to the remote villages (not Grama Panchayat centre village) is the main agenda of his plan.
According to the plan, books will be distributed to 20 selected villages in Bangalore Rural district, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagar and Mandya. This unique programme was symbolically inaugurated in Yavanika here on Feb 8 by distributing books to 10 people from 10 villages.
“We have already formed library committees in these villages. The committees have agreed to build / arrange buildings for libraries. Each village will be given around 2,500 books. Once in six months survey will be conducted about how to use these books / libraries. Except this survey, entire maintenance of the libraries should be done by the committee. By the end of 2013 such libraries will be set up in at least 100 villages,” he said.
The trust / Mr. Shetty is not spending much money on this project. The trust has been collecting used books from the people for this purpose. Already the trust had collected at least 17,000 books including novels, poetry, stories, children and women literatures and other books. The trust will distributed 2,000 to 2,500 books to each of its rural libraries.
Litterateurs, poets, writers and publishers are impressed by this initiative and assured to donate books to this cause. Kannada Development Authority Chairman Mr. Siddalingaiah also assured to donate 500 books to every libraries.
“The trust will never expect money from the people. If they interested to join hands with the trust, the can donate books. The trust will distribute them in selected villages to quench the thirst of the knowledge in rural areas,said Mr. Shetty.
Accelerating Education
AKSHARACHAITANYA is a non-profit organization aimed to uplift the needy students and youth by providing various facilities and opportunities like counseling, professional trainings, general and employment awareness programs, Internet facility with nominal fee, etc. And now, it’s in the process of setting up a library that would initially focus on gathering and providing material related to competitive exams, employment opportunities etc. Subsequently, the library will be expanded to have many features in the near future.
How students and youth with minimum educational qualifications can be benefited with this project? There are many students with Intermediate and Degree qualifications in Sircilla town and rural areas who need proper guidance about the employment opportunities. They can avail the Internet facility to browse, employment news papers, periodic seminars on various topics, etc. In fact, there is a public library in town but it is very generic in nature. As we know, many good students hailing from poor textile families either drop out or stop looking for employment opportunities due to lack of guidance and unawareness. This is Aksharachaitanya’s attempt to bring some light in the faces of those needy students and families that deserve better life.
AC is located in Sircilla town, Karimnagar district and currently equipped with 10 computers in a spacious hall where the library can be setup and good size meetings/seminars can also be conducted.
To help this project to be successful, we appreciate anyone who can donate furniture, book shelves, used materials like Books, CDs, DVDs, etc.
For further details, please email us to info@aksharachaitanya.org .
Even for the students who have the latest technological facilities, it’s difficult to find the correct path that leads to a bright future. It is a lifetime decision that has an impact on whole life.
MOHAN Foundation
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