Archiving Nature At The Library Of Water
Visitors to Iceland will often recount lasting impressions of the remarkable natural terrain of the country. Recognizing the importance of the intertwined relationship between this world of nature and the world of man, Roni Horn created the Library of Water. Equal parts archive, art installation and meditation, the Library of Water consists of different perceptions of Icelandic nature:
Water, Selected is a constellation of 24 glass columns containing water collected from ice from some of the major glaciers around Iceland. The glass columns refract and reflect the light onto a rubber floor embedded with a field of words in Icelandic and English which relate to the weather – inside or outside. The sculpture installation offers a space for private reflection whilst accommodating a wide variety of community uses.
In a small side room, visitors can look at Roni Horn’s ongoing series of books made in Iceland, To Place and listen to a selection of people talking about the weather. Through 2005 and 2006, at the instigation of Horn, writer Oddny Eir Ævarsdóttir, her brother archaeologist Uggi Ævarsson and their father, radio broadcaster Ævar Kjartansson interviewed around a hundred individuals from Stykkishólmur and the surrounding area about the weather. Weather Reports You presents these spoken testimonies as a collective self-portrait of a country where the weather is strongly present in everyday life.
The Library of Water also hosts annual residency programs for writers in a studio below the installation.
Recent Articles By Lisa Baldini 
Lisa Baldini is a regular contributor to PSFK.com. As a student of Graham Harwood, Luciana Parisi, and Matthew Fuller, Lisa's interest in technology lies in how culture is changed from the bottom up through history, materiality, databases, user experience, and affective computing. A student of social media marketing, she sees how people try to engage consumers through technology and how much failure is at hand by misunderstanding the medium. A teacher at heart, she writes and curates in an effort to link the knowledge derived between the academic, art, and business worlds.
Daily Ideas & Inspiration Email