The Underground Library
The Underground Library is a project dedicated to the distribution of book-bound multimedia arts projects.
Project
Six hardcover books are distributed each year, each hand-bound by the founders of the Underground Library. They are distributed to members who then pass the book on in Heirloom fashion, whereby each member, or "herald," gives the book to an "ambassador" whom the herald believes will appreciate it. Each book provides its ambassador with a due date, after which point he or she must pass it on to someone else. Library cards accompany the books in their inside front jacket; it is here that ambassadors are expected to fill in their names, alongside their respective due dates, as per traditional library rules. Once the book has been read by ten ambassadors, it is returned to the herald.
Each book incorporates a variety of literary and non-literary media, such as illustration, film and music, with the intention of creating a unified multimedia experience.
History
The Underground Library was founded in Brooklyn in early 2009. In May of that year, the Library released their first book, based around a short story called "The Gotham Carnival," as a test run, and in August it received a grant from Brooklyn-based community-driven foundation FEAST. The first book of the first post-test run series, called Forever, Michael, is a memoir by Halloween's Michael Myers; it was released in late 2009 in an EDition of 75.
Mission
The Underground Library is the result of its founders interest in both publishing the work of lesser-known and underrepresented artists and in returning to the work of art an immediacy and intimacy that its founders have felt lacking in the multimedia over-saturation created by the Internet. Each book is representative of the Library's preference for a DIY approach to art creation and a palpable, hand's-on relationship with art.