a library to scale (part 1)

web-4562photo-sam-harnettinstallation-view-ann-shelton-dark-matter-aag-2016-17-photo-sam-harnett — a library to scale, installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

2006

There is a sense in which things become real through their repetition. a library to scale records a likeness of a collection of scrapbooks, a visual re-enactment of a compelling collection of books; it engages us in a process of recovery, retrieval, and re-presentation. It seeks to bind Frederick B. Butler’s project anew, to look back on it from the very particular time and space of the now…

From the artist’s statement for the exhibition a library to scale

alts-01 — (01). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Families Volume 1200 to New Zealand 1939 May 17 – June 8, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-02 — (02). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: New Zealand 1939 June 8 – July 11 to New Zealand 1945 March 28 – December 22, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-03 — (03). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Volume 400 26 October 1939 – January 28 1941 Births, Deaths and Marriages to Volume 1096, 1899 August – September, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-04 — (04). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Volume 1097 1899 September – November to Maori Pa’s in City Area, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-05 — (05). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Messenger A.H. Historical Articles (espec Taranaki) 1953 April – 1954 July to Air 1955 March – April, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-06 — (06). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Air 1955 April –June to Births etc 1948 October 1 – 18, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-07 — (07). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Births etc 1948 October 30 – November 11 to Births etc 1952 June 11 – 26, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-08 — (08). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Births etc 1952 June 26 – July 2 to Births etc 1954 November 16 – 20, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-09 — (09). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Births etc 1954 November 22 – 27 to Births etc 1957 April 22 – 26, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-10 — (10). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Births etc 1957 April 26 – 29 to Births etc 1959 November 16 – 21, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-11 — (11). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Births etc 1959 – November 21 to Hawera 1949 October – December, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-12 — (12). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Hawera 1949 December – 1950 March to Opunake 1952 August – 1953 February, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-13 — (13). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Opunake 1953 September – 1954 February to Waitara April – June 1948, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-14 — (14). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Waitara 1948 June – December to Crime 1950 Feb 1 – 15, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-15 — (15). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Crime 1950 February 16 – 27 to Crime 1954 Feb 2, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-16 — (16). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Crime 1954 February 19 – 26 to Crime 1957 April 13 – 23, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-17 — (17). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Crime 1957 April 23 – May 2 to Crime 1969 September 1 – 19, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-18 — (18). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Crime 1969 September 19 – October 16 to Education 1957 June – July, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-19 — (19). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Education 1957 July – August to Hotels 1956 August – September, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-20 — (20). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Hotels 1956 September – November to Petrol 1944 November – 1946 May, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-21 — (21). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Petrol 1946 May – 1947 October to Post Office 1958 August – December, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-22 — (22). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Office 1959 May – August to Shipping 1951 September – November, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-23 — (23). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Shipping 1954 September – October to War General 1941 July 11 – 28 August, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-24 — (24). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: War General January 1944 – November 1945 to Weather 1956 March – April, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-25 — (25). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Scrapbooks from: Weather 1956 April – May to Young Farmers 1969 April – October, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

alts-26 — (26). Frederick B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, Empty Shelf, 2006. C-type print, 965 × 1365 mm.

web-4562photo-sam-harnettinstallation-view-ann-shelton-dark-matter-aag-2016-17-photo-sam-harnett — a library to scale, installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

web-4528photo-sam-harnettinstallation-view-ann-shelton-dark-matter-aag-2016-17-photo-sam-harnett — a library to scale, installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

web-4530photo-sam-harnettinstallation-view-ann-shelton-dark-matter-aag-2016-17-photo-sam-harnett — a library to scale, installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

web-4526photo-sam-harnettinstallation-view-ann-shelton-dark-matter-aag-2016-17-photo-sam-harnett — a library to scale, installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

web-4527photo-sam-harnettinstallation-view-ann-shelton-dark-matter-aag-2016-17-photo-sam-harnett — a library to scale, installation view, Dark Matter, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2016. Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

library-install-3 — a library to scale, installation view, Starkwhite, Auckland, 2006.

library-install-2 — a library to scale, installation view, Starkwhite, Auckland, 2006.

archive-fever1 — a library to scale, installation view, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, 2006.

archive-fever2 — a library to scale, installation view, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, 2006.

alts-gb-install — a library to scale, installation view, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, 2007. Photograph by Bryan James.

Special thanks to Puke Ariki and Sereena and Frances Burton for helping make this exhibition possible.