Architecture Collection – a selection of photos by Mickey Smith
Volume, 2022, archival pigment print, 760x1170 mm, edition of 10.
Grey Room, 2022, archival pigment print, 760x1170 mm, edition of 10; Metropolis, 2008, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle photo rag, 1200mm x 800mm, edition 5 of 10, framed.
Architettura, 2022, archival pigment prints, 760x1170 mm, editions of 10.
Form, 2022, edition 2 of 10; Building, 2022, edition 1 of 10; Monument, 2022, edition 2 of 10. All archival pigment prints on Hahnemühle photo rag,1200mm x 800mm, framed.
The Sanderson Contemporary gallery in Newmarket, Auckland is currently presenting photographer Mickey Smith’s New Outlook exhibition (showing until 10 April, 2022), a continuation of Smith’s ongoing project Volume, which documents bound periodicals and journals in public libraries.
As a homage to the now-defunct University of Auckland School of Architecture Library, part of Smith’s exhibition includes an Architectural Collection, featuring some never before seen titles, including Form, Building and Monument as well as Volume, Grey Room and Architettura, all of which were taken inside the library prior to it being demolished.
Smith’s work continuously explores the state of entropy within libraries, as information systems are shifted and digitized and collections become deaccessioned. The books Smith has documented are not touched, artificially lit or manipulated, but rather found by the artist in stacks, left as positioned by the last reader.
Sanderson Contemporary describes Smith’s photography as “a striking and poignant reflection of contemporary times through her documentation of simple, provocative titles found on library shelves around the world, most recently in Aotearoa’s libraries.”
