The Inquisitors

At the time it was ...hoped that a clarification of humanity’s basic mysteries – the origin of the library and of time - might be found…There are official searchers, Inquisitors. The Library of Babel, Jorge Luis Borges.

Inquisitors is an ongoing investigation in and of Nottingham’s libraries, by the artist group YOLK. It intends to discover how and why these libraries are used, and how this use contrasts with their supposed function. Inquisitors will investigate how libraries reflect the communities that they serve, exploring the power structures within them and challenging the idea of the library and the outside city as a ‘concept of order’.

From their investigation, Inquisitors will create an imaginary, online library. Built from the ideas, experiences and stories of Nottingham library users, this will be -like Borges’ Library of Babel - "indefinite and perhaps infinite."

The first stages of the project began in Bilborough in June 2005. Inquisitors worked with library users to create the first room of the imaginary library; a place filled with stories from the shelves of Bilborough Library, and the streets outside.

The library is intended as a space that will develop over time, a place for dialogue, research and discovery. The process of building the library is a collaborative one between the artists, the computer programmer, library users and the on-line audience who may ‘donate’ their own stories and ideas.

To find out more about Inquisitors please contact us.