This story of a library vandal targeting books perceived to be on gay and lesbian topics and their subsequent transformation into artworks by community members starts out promisingly enough, taking a page from This American Life's style book with interviews backed by music, but after the balance of voice & music star to fall apart, the inconsistent audio quality of the interviewees begins to distance the listener from the material, and the "sountracky" music attempts to lead the listener to a certain emotional conclusion, a job which the voices alone could have done on their own.
Vandalism reveals a lot about a community as a man attempts to systematically destroy the San Francisco Public Library's (SFPL) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books. One immediately contemplates the virulent nature of the attack, and how disturbing it is to attempt to destroy a group's entire literary and cultural record.
Jim Van Buskirk, SFPL's program manager, recalls that the incident was "pretty nerve-racking" because he felt it was not "that big a leap from carving up books to carving up people."
Perhaps the most human part of the piece describes a book whose inscription on the title page ("To Richard with good warm wishes from Robert") was slashed through by the vandal.
What once represented hatred and intolerance became a site of joy and community outpouring as artists and San Francisco residents turned their loss into an artistic exhibit.
This piece is touching and personal, dark and disturbing, but in the end pure inspiration. It also reminds its audience that the library is inherently a political space.
Comments for How To Destroy A Book
Produced by Peter Crimmins
Other pieces by Peter Crimmins
Rating Summary
2 comments
Michael Johnson
Posted on November 14, 2006 at 08:41 PM | Permalink
Review of How To Destroy A Book
This story of a library vandal targeting books perceived to be on gay and lesbian topics and their subsequent transformation into artworks by community members starts out promisingly enough, taking a page from This American Life's style book with interviews backed by music, but after the balance of voice & music star to fall apart, the inconsistent audio quality of the interviewees begins to distance the listener from the material, and the "sountracky" music attempts to lead the listener to a certain emotional conclusion, a job which the voices alone could have done on their own.
Patrick Keilty
Posted on September 27, 2006 at 11:28 PM | Permalink
Review of How To Destroy A Book
Vandalism reveals a lot about a community as a man attempts to systematically destroy the San Francisco Public Library's (SFPL) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books. One immediately contemplates the virulent nature of the attack, and how disturbing it is to attempt to destroy a group's entire literary and cultural record.
Jim Van Buskirk, SFPL's program manager, recalls that the incident was "pretty nerve-racking" because he felt it was not "that big a leap from carving up books to carving up people."
Perhaps the most human part of the piece describes a book whose inscription on the title page ("To Richard with good warm wishes from Robert") was slashed through by the vandal.
What once represented hatred and intolerance became a site of joy and community outpouring as artists and San Francisco residents turned their loss into an artistic exhibit.
This piece is touching and personal, dark and disturbing, but in the end pure inspiration. It also reminds its audience that the library is inherently a political space.