This past September, the Möbius Library opened for viewing for the first time. I spent August designing and writing (and falling down the Liz Eden Rabbit hole), and September waiting for new materials to come in. This blog will be my way of walking you through the creation process and letting you in on a few fun details. There will be pictures, naturally.
The Inception
"Would you be interested in curating the next exhibit?"
"Uh, sure!"
Anna (my boss' boss if I understand Robbins's current two-person semi-hierarchy) asked me in late July/early August. They had floated the idea to me a few months earlier, so I'd already had something in mind. Over the summer, since I was primarily working on blogs, I had been reading quite a lot of the collection, specifically Jeanette Winterson. Winterson is an obsessive quoter. Given that her books are relatively short, and have a quick snappiness to the prose, I was always sort of amazed by how many references she could fit naturally into the story she even references herself!
So, with this in mind, I proposed that I track the ways in which books, art, music, and poems reference each other ad infinitum. For those of you who know me personally, I am not the most gifted visual artist or designer. Perfect! I could lean into that and just make the exhibit itself look erratic.
Initial Planning
I knew immediately that I wanted to limit the dust that accumulates around The Classics. I also knew I wanted to focus on the Koller-Collins Collection, since this is where my interests lie, and it does not get the love it deserves. Given that collection's history as a library of hegemonic Western English Classics, I figured I'd have to be intentional with who I wanted to include. Besides, old, white European men get whole shelves to themselves, they'll be fine not being included in one exhibit. This is also why I chose to condense 'Western Philosophy' to one paragraph—to save on space, paper, and sanity.
Thus, I settled into the idea. I began brainstorming books I especially wanted to include. Here is where personal bias came in handy. My two favorite novels both include an insane amount of references, and I have already read many books just for the blogs, so I had an idea who they offered in terms of connections. From there it was a matter of thinking of interesting works of art and a quick search to see if they had any well know references and if Robbins already owned a copy. As I did this I began to sketch the first visual iteration of the Möbius Library.
Transference and Grittier details
My notebook was getting crowded. I had no idea if this would even fit on corkboard we didn't even have yet. I commandeered the chalkboard in the break room. At this stage, I had started to add non- books, and had to scan indices and bibliographies for possible connections. I chose certain poems and songs. I added more books.
Once the majority of the things I wanted to include were on the board, I had to start thinking about what I wanted to say. On numerous sticky notes I drafted vague notes about books. Do I need to explain a connection? Do I know anything wacky about this material? Anything? Anything?
I also planned on asking all Robbins/METS staff if they want something included, but I only managed to get one answer before realizing I would not have the board space for that many things.
Captioning
The board was more or less done at this point, and it was time to actually write the exhibit part of the exhibit. As a quick aside, I have been told that the Möbius Library reads (ha) more like an art installation than library exhibit; a distinction I am proud to bear. Anyway! The drafting process took about three work shifts if I remember correctly. I sent them off to Anna for revision (4K words between the captions, poems, etc.). At this point I'd also made a list of the collection material we didn't have yet, photos I wanted, and other things I'd need for the exhibit like corkboards, string, and pins. Shortly afterwards, while waiting to hear back, I fell into research about Elizabeth Eden, which you can read about here.
In addition to Liz, I thought it would be interesting to email the 'contributors' of the exhibit to let them know their work was being showcased in a medieval library, which I thought would be a fun detail for any of the non-medievalists. To my surprise, a few got back to me (one on the same day).
Making the mock-up of the mock-up.
With nothing left to do but wait for materials to come in, I started eyeballing the size of the print-outs. Here began the height of my paper waste. 50 some fake photos and 20 some more captions and I had a two corkboards covered in blank pieces of paper. And by whatever miracle, they all fit! Barely. As long as none of the real photos or captions were any larger everything would be just fine. This took about 2-3 hours.
Making the mock-up
(Most of) The books arrived! Anna scanned and printed them on regular printer paper, and I had the pleasure of cutting them down to the right size and wasting even more paper. Over the course of a few hours, I had pinned the true sizes of all of the captions and photos onto both boards. Everything was readable and visible where they had to be (with a few concessions to the hectic style).
Everything is Derivative
Everything fit. The books were all here. The card-stock captions and photos were printed and cut out. All that was left was to pin them up and then tie everything together.
It took around 6 hours to get the boards from the mock-up to the fully articulated exhibit in Robbins today. For Your Name Here in particular, I had to start tying knots on top of old knots just so that all the string could fit on one pin. I also happened to be sick on the first day of set-up. I'm not sure I can explain the feeling of already being delirious in the way that colds make you on top of listening to (probably too-intense) music on top of tying heaps of red string to a corkboard. But no matter my desire for a tin foil hat, the stringing what entirely finished, and I could go take a nap.
Conclusion-ish
I am absolutely thrilled with how the Möbius Library turned out. It looks better than I could've imagined. I had finished the set-up Monday morning and later that day was the opening reception, at which I was to give a mini-talk elaborating on its creation, etc. You have hopefully already read about all of that, but I want here to also expand on some things I didn't quite get to in my talk.
Extra Connections!
Liz Eden
One of the books on the board is Corpses, Fools, and Monsters by Caden Gardner and Willow Maclay. Around halfway through the book there is a small section on Elizabeth Eden, where it mentions that she moved to Rochester and later died here. I thought it would be a nice touch to have that date, and I had no idea how difficult it would be to find. I've stopped short of booking a train to NYC or asking the local government here about voting records trying to figure this date out. For slightly more info on this book and Liz Eden, see the hyperlink in "Captioning".
Favorites
Of course, this is my exhibit, so how could I not put my favorite books in it. Your Name Here and the bone people oh so easily fill those spots. YNH is entirely eclectic and I absolutely adore the ways in which it thrashes around trying to connect to anything at all. I believe I described the writing of Ilya Gridneff as 'intoxicating', which I am fairly sure was how it was described earlier in the book before I had thought that. The bone people on the other hand is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read and the one of the few that have almost made me cry. Kerewin Holmes' Book of Godhead is one I'd like to recreate one day. Finding each part in used book stores and rebinding it myself. A project for another day perhaps. As of writing, both the copy of YNH and Winged Victory are my own personal copies due to delays in the delivery of the library's.
Willi Carlise
Being that Carlise is a folk musician, much of his discography is his take on a well know tunes. I adore his style and liveliness in playing as well as the somber attitude that some of his songs evoke. His albums also occasionally are rather absurd. Winged Victory in particular rapidly tickers back and forth about the plight of the union and the repressed queerness of men to sipping sugar from angel's udders and a non-binary diner employee with "that kind of posterior that troubles your mind." Carlise's penchant for realness and an absurd taste of lyricism thoroughly tickles my fancy.
Adjustments
This exhibit is always evolving, albeit in slight ways for my own sanity. The patterned ribbons connect to the display cases, wherein you'll find one of the Book[s] of Colour Concepts. As the exhibit goes on, I plan to slowly change the pages to show off the range of beautiful prints in those books. Similarly, I will switch out which wall paper from Pattern and Flow I will highlight on the board.
Also on the board are 'sticky notes' with QR codes that lead to the Robbins/Koller-Collins Collection Highlight Blog that I run. There you'll find short pieces where I attempt to mimic the feel of reading the books without spoiling the whole story. My personal favorites are Nevada, Frankissstien, and English Magic (the latter not being included in the Möbius Library directly, unless, of course, you count its mentioning here).
Cut for Time, Space, and Peace of Mind
Graph Theory
My original idea had been to complete the tying of the red string without cutting the thread at all. I thought that if I could have everything connect in just the right way I would make a sort of Möbius-ish strip from the exhibit itself. Almost as soon as I began sketching it out I realized I had already made a mistake in the planning and for my own peace of mind I would have to drop the idea. All is well however, I wasn't very good at the graph theory unit in my Java class (and I cannot imaging attempting to tie a string like that given how much of a mess it is without mathematics on top of it.)
Farbige Noten
The caption for the Book of Colour Concepts makes mention of Farbige Noten by Ch. A. B. Huth. I would've loved to have included a print of the patent. It is as beautiful as it is alien. I have included it in this blog for your pleasure.
A Small Thing/A Big Number
Originally I had wanted to include the exact number of books currently within the Robbins/Koller-Collins Library. This number is harder to find than I had thought. If you have the time to count each book individually, feel free to contact me!
And On and On it Goes
This project has its limits, as much as I tried to alleviate them. If I had years to work on this (and adequate funding), I would love to make a whole room a Möbius Library (an idea courtesy of one of my best friends). Had I more space and time I would love to include more Eastern philosophers to counter-balance the Western ones. I am aware of the gaps in location of the exhibit, particularly that of Africa and Asia. I could have included at the very least famous authors like Natsume Sōseki and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and in reality, I could re-make this project in its entirety from either continent alone. In the future perhaps, if the Möbius Library is ever expanded upon, the literature from every culture will be given the attention they deserve.
Conclusion
This would not have been possible without the support I received from my friends in and outside of Robbins. Particularly Anna, who as it turns out, attended her last Robbins event as Director of the Robbins Library this past September. I want to extend my deep gratitude towards her for making this project possible, and helping it to flourish in a space so wonderful as Robbins. I know I speak on behalf of all Robbins and METS staff when I say that I wish Anna well in all future endeavors, and that I will never forget the effect she had on this space. Thank you for reading, and I hope you find the time to enter the Möbius Library.
