Artist statement

Azerbaijani Art Stations

A project centered on the creation of public/community based work by five Nordic artists for munincipality-run cultural centers in villages and suburbs surrounding Baku, Azerbaijan's capital city.

Library within the library

The Ahmedli library is located on the first floor of a large apartment building in the suburbs of Baku. It is a facinating environment which serves a large community, not only with books but it is also a centre where children study dance, music and other elements related to the complex Azerbaijani cultural history. As an artist working with ideas of heritage and identity, Ahmedli posed demanding questions which I aimed at dealing with through positing a new library within the already excisting one. In 2009 and 2010 I visited Ahmedli and forged a relationship with the library's director and observed the workings of the institution, having the opportunity to understand in better detail it's role in the neighborhood. Identity is manifested in libraries. They are sites of learning, sites of information and messages. As a way to make cultural exchange between Iceland and Azerbaijan I proposed to construct a dialogue between the Ahmedli library and the Reykjavik munincipal library. The project would serve as a platform for dialogue between these two disparate locations, and the books exchanged would reflect each's locations methods and serve as cultural exchange.

The first steep for this work in progress was inaugurated in May 2010 by installing Icelandic landscape books with incongruous landscape photos of Iceland that have become a pictorial heritage for Iceland and are integral with the people’s self image, regardless of what the actual relationship with nature may be. The landscape books are placed on simple white stands in the Russian department of the Ahmedli library. The next step is a research period in Baku followed by bookwork.

Anns Líndal