Ivan Hernandez Quintela
My second set of bookshelves had the same details as the first one but I increased the distance between shelves for architecture and art books, which, as they tend to have mostly photographs, tend to be much taller than literature books. I failed to correct my mistake and left the ends of the shelves open. One side leans towards the wall so no books fall sideways but on the other side I need to pile books horizontally once again to keep vertical books from falling. I use magazines such as Croquis , Quaderns and GG series to create horizontal piles that generate one visual block, all the same length and same thickness. On the bottom of the shelf, I keep, purely for nostalgic reasons (since I almost never look at them) the books I bought while studying architecture. The architects which I thought were so cool during my studies have turned out to not be of much interest anymore. Since then, I have opted to buy mostly architecture books from the masters of modern architecture, which occupy the next shelf. Some contemporary architects have made their way into that shelf: Murcutt, Miralles, Studio Mumbai, Rural Studio, Peter Salter (as I consider them already classics in my universe). These I do browse often. On the third shelf, are books on photography, film, fashion and theatre. Above that, art books, mostly from the sixties and seventies – Body Art, Arte Povera, Conceptual Art, Minimalist Art, Performance Art, Land Art. It is these books I would say have influenced me the most. I like having them at eye level. On the top shelf, I have no idea why I have decided to separate these from the shelf below (other than they could not fit there), are
women artists. This shelf has plenty of space left for dozens more books and I do not have any particular plans to acquire more but one never knows what treasure one might run into during travel or what discovery one might receive from a friend’s recommendation so I do not consider my book collection finished. The third set of bookshelves came a couple of years later and I did not do the same mistake again. This time the shelves were closed at the ends to keep books from falling. I still did not want this piece of furniture to feel heavy so I left a low space within each box. I figured I could use that in-between space to store my classical music cd collection and some large format sketchbooks I once enjoyed using. Top shelf for architectural theory and urbanism. Next shelf for social studies. Next, philosophy. Bottom shelf for music, film, theatre and dance. It is at the edges that the organisation gets strange. One cube for children’s books. Another cube for books that for one reason or another I have not read or have not finished reading. Another cube for a magazine collection a friend of mine edits. Another cube has a folding backgammon board, a folding chess board and a box of dominos. The cube next to the couch, within reach, has a tin bucket full of coins that keeps filling, as I get home, sit on the couch and empty my pockets. Next to the tin buckets, the TV and DVD control. On top of the shelf, I keep some amber glass bottles with shapes I like and some optical tools I began to collect such as old binoculars, old polaroid cameras, pocket size slide viewers and strange looking magnifying glasses.
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