Jacque Liu – Public Art Consultant

Permanent Public Artwork: Colette Fu. Commemorating the Stacks. 2019. Site: Free Library of Philadelphia – Parkway Central Branch, Philadelphia, PA. Project Budget: $64,900. Funded through Percent for Art.

Partners: Free Library of Philadelphia, Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation

* More Images Below Text

In 2019, the Free Library of Philadelphia (FLP) completed a $36 million major renovation of their Parkway Central Branch. First opened in 1927, this location serves as the flagship branch of the library system, welcoming more than 1 million visitors each year. As part of its Building Inspiration: 21st Century Libraries Initiative, the Free Library renovated the stacks area, which allowed the them to open up two floors, tens of thousands of square feet, for public use. Design was completed by Safdie Architects.

Colette Fu’s Commemorating the Stacks is a site-specific artwork consisting of eight three-dimensional acrylic tunnel books. Historically, traditional tunnel books are made from paper and are accordion-like with parallel layers of cut paper that create a multi-dimensional scene when viewed from the front. Ms. Fu’s installations are laser-cut frosted acrylic layers that create a complex and playful design mimicking paper. On the face of each of the tunnel books is a frame constructed using fragments of the library’s original metal shelving system.

Commemorating the Stacks pays homage to the six-level historic book shelving and storage system that was removed to allow for Parkway Central’s newest public spaces. Photographs taken by Ms. Fu of these closed stacks inspired the artwork’s imagery. With a complex retrieval system and capacity to house more than one million books, the stacks served as the central hub for all of the neighborhood libraries until the Free Library chose to reduce their footprint by moving books offsite and installing new compact shelving in the renovated space for the books’ return. They are fondly remembered through Ms. Fu’s artwork, which is prominently featured in the 41,000-square-foot space that has been opened for new public and staff areas.

For Ms. Fu, the work is three-fold: “My hope is to first, emphasize that there is a line of continuity in the book form as it moves from more historic book forms, including movable books, to modern day tablets, cellphones, and e-readers. Second, I want to give visibility to the field of book arts, and to show that a book can possess interesting qualities beyond its text, specifically through printing methods, paper choice, and the binding. Lastly, I want to commemorate the book, the library, the artist book, Philadelphia, and most of all the stacks that were permanently removed from the library.”

I served as the Percent for Art Project Manager on this project.