NYPL
Jefferson
Market
Library at
50
You’re invited...
to celebrate with us
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“This building is a public space. The splendor and the beauty of the physical building is only important because of the people who fought to preserve it and those who continue to use it to strengthen the quality of their lives every day.”
Frank Collerius
Jefferson Market Library Manager
“All public space is a creative space
- a space of collaboration, discovery, learning, tolerance and togetherness. Jefferson Market was saved by the public for the public - this special place continues to inspire, educate and interact with the very individuals who rescued it from demolition. In this anniversary year we look to celebrate the library and its community.”
Mark John Smith
Artist
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So what’s happening?
Saved twice by the public for the public - this year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Jefferson Market Library with a new work of art created and inspired by you.
Artist Mark John Smith and the Jefferson Market Library present the “ The Library - a living, functioning and interactive work of art.”
In an unprecedented gesture, this public work will reach all areas of the library, with the centerpiece being a visually spectacular, immersive, 360-degree, 3-story print, for the walls of the Library’s main reading room - unveiled on November 16th 2017.
Over the last fifty years, the Jefferson Market Library has been continually innovating what a library can be. This artwork is seen as the accumulation of the discoveries made in those last fifty years and serves as a testament to the future: that libraries can be anything that the public need them to be.
This interactive and immersive work, occupying all areas of the library, includes a series of curated live events from different communities that the library supports. As the work becomes a platform for the discussion of innovation and the importance of collaborative, interdisciplinary practices, Mark and the Jefferson Market Library team look to invite esteemed creative minds and leaders in the fields of art, design, literacy, architecture and film to join us in this celebratory year.
Current events:
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INSTALLATION - The Reading Room 2017
On view November 16th - ongoing.
Second Floor Reading Room
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EXHIBITION - The Placards 2017
On view November 6, 2017.
Main Lobby
Join us as we reveal a new exhibition proclaiming your love for the Library.
This unique exhibition, curated and directed by you, explores what the Library means today as we take stock of the last 50 years and look to the exciting future of Jefferson Market Library and the vibrant community that we serve.
Located in the building’s main lobby space on the ground floor, adjacent to the Children’s Reading Room, we invite you to continue an expression of creativity, as we offer up our walls for your voice, imprint and personal touch.
On selected dates through November, Mark will be on hand to offer a glimpse into some of the other exciting developments coming to the Library later in the year.
This exhibition is free to attend and open to all during the Library’s regular opening hours.
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CHILDREN’S REGISTRATION BOOK
Sign the new book today!
Children’s Reading Room
Visit the Children’s Reading Room, located on our first floor, and sign the new 50th anniversary registration book. In doing so you will be honoring an NYPL tradition dating back to the day of our opening 50 years ago in 1967.
This new book, made by the original manufacturer, will then form part of our archive - sitting proudly alongside three other registration books completed by children between 1967 - 2008.
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Mark John Smith
As Mark continues to investigate all things JML, you may spot him in the reading rooms or perhaps working in the reference section. Feel free to say hello. Mark is here all year -collaboratively working to create JML50.
Mark (@untitled2010) will be posting photos live to Instagram using #JML50 - highlighting points of interest and inspiration.
Feel like getting in touch? You can drop him an email via studio@markjohnsmith.co.uk
Upcoming events:
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Stay tuned as we will be adding more events shortly.
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Past events:
OPENING RECEPTION
Thursday November 16th
JML50 - The Reading Room 2017
8-10pm
Second floor reading room
Free to attend - open to all
No RSVP required
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP
Saturday August 5th
“Save the library #JML50.”
Share the love, make a placard and proclaim your support for our library in this celebratory year.
1pm - 4pm
Street Fair, West 8th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenue).
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP
Saturday July 8th
“Save the library #JML50.”
Share the love, make a placard and proclaim your support for our library in this celebratory year.
1pm - 4pm
Street Fair, West 8th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenue).
On July 8th members of the public joined us on 8th Street to proclaim a love of libraries by making placards and voicing their support for the wonderful opportunities and spaces provided by the New York Public Library system.
In this, our 50th anniversary year, we have been looking back into our archive and researching those members of our community who came together to help save our wonderful building and home here in the Village.
In 2017, against a backdrop of uncertainty and division, we look to the future by celebrating and giving thanks for what we, as a public space, can provide in inspiring a new wave of library patrons to strengthen and enrich their lives via the power of collaboration, discovery, learning, tolerance and togetherness.
Ultimately - Libraries are for all.
Thank you to all who came out to share what you love about your library - you now join a community legacy of innovation and resilience in the face of adversity.
All placards made during this event will be publicly exhibited at the library in late October.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP
Saturday June 10th
“Demolish the library.”
An interactive workshop and artist talk with Mark John Smith as we explore the JML archive.
10am - 5pm
Second Floor Fiction Room.
On June 10th, members of the public donned white gloves and explored our archive - one spanning over 100 years of JML history.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP
Sunday June 18th
“A Monstrosity.”
An interactive workshop and artist talk with Mark John Smith as we explore the JML archive.
1pm - 5pm
First floor. Willa Cather Community Room.
YOUNG LIONS WORKSHOP
Sunday May 7th
“Into the archive” - NYPL Young Lions
Interactive workshop with Mark John Smith and Frank Collerius
11am - 2pm
2nd floor. Main reading room
On Sunday May 7, 2017 the NYPL Young Lions met at Jefferson Market Library for a special volunteer day to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Library and explore its archive. In these short videos, members of the group share excerpts of interest from the archive.
How can I get involved?
This new work is inspired by you and you will help shape it.
We invite you to join in via participating in one of our public programs at the Library as we don the white gloves and collectively explore the archive - one that spans over 100 years of history.
Additionally, you are invited to submit letters, memorabilia and stories that share how Jefferson Market has inspired you over the past 50 years.
Your submission may be included as part of the artwork to be installed in the Library's second floor reading room in November.
Mark and the team are particularly interested in items that include handwriting and personal narrative.
Please send all submissions to:
frankcollerius@nypl.org with subject line: JML50
Or mail us something at:
JML50
Jefferson Market Library
425 6th Avenue
New York, NY 10011
All content generated during this project will form part of our archive.
#JML50
PRESS CENTER
Please see below for our most recent press release and media links.
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PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release.
Monday, October 16, 2017
JML50 by artist Mark John Smith
PUBLIC OPENING - Thursday November 16 at 8pm - 10pm
Jefferson Market Library
425 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY
10011
The New York Public Library’s Jefferson Market branch celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Two years in the making, British artist Mark John Smith presents a series of new, immersive public works of art, exploring the Library’s, until now, largely unseen archive of historic and intimate communications with its public, dating back over a century.
This November, Jefferson Market Library is delighted to unveil the centerpiece and inaugural exhibition of JML50: a bespoke, large format, three story 360-degree print, adorning the walls of the Library’s second floor Gothic reading room. Documents recording pledges by children obtaining their first ever library cards in 1967, letters of adoration, complaints and even the flicker of love between patrons - all feature in this uniquely site-specific insight into the complex tapestry of relationships formed during its 50 years rooted here in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Building on a legacy of activism and protest, Jefferson Market Library, now a landmarked building, stands today as a testament to the power of collaborative working and the pursuit of a common goal - namely to ensure that all have access to the tools and resources required to sustain lifelong learning and creative engagement. The Jefferson Market building, saved twice by the public once from demolition in the 1960s and then again from closure as a library in the 1970s, stands as a monument to culture and the very communities that helped preserve it.
Drawing from his experience leading cultural engagement strategies in the UK, namely for the British Broadcasting Corporation, London 2012 Olympics, the Cultural Olympiad and NYC-based arts collective Franklin Collective, artist Mark John Smith has employed a series of events and happenings designed to foster an engagement in the upcoming anniversary celebrations that offer unique curatorial control of the project to the very individuals that it honors - the public and patrons of the New York Public Library and the Greenwich Village community. Working collaboratively with Library Manager Frank Collerius, Mark has been an artist-in-residence at Jefferson Market Library for the past year. During this time, he has witnessed and participated in some of the Library’s innermost workings, involving its staff and daily operations to highlight the network as sculpture present within this very human institution.
“During my time at Jefferson Market Library, I have been struck by the vast level of diversity amongst the library’s users and patrons. The library, I believe, is the most reflexive public service available - it has terrific adaptability. Through its staff, it responds with immediacy to the changing needs of the public - always offering support, information and a place of safety. What’s remarkable here is the fact that it is the Village who of course saved this space - pre landmarks. This is a library for the people by the people - a place deeply rooted in this fantastically vocal, politically active and critically engaged community. This new work, titled JML50, uses the lens of fine art to offer a new perspective on the perception of what a library can and indeed should be - given the social, political and economic circumstances both here in the USA and abroad. In this new work, we are honouring the past whilst looking toward the future.”
Mark John Smith Artist
JML50 is a year long celebration, one designed to engage the many and diverse demographics accommodated by the Library in the pursuit of fostering lifelong learning, engagement and a continual commitment to self discovery, collaboration and creativity.
In preparation for the project’s launch in November, Mark and Frank offered an unprecedented level of transparency to the Library’s history by engaging the local community in the discovery of Jefferson Market Library’s archive though seminars, workshops, interactive street fair events and artist talks. As the project continues to evolve, so too does the level of programming, with the introduction of a rotating series of curated events pertaining to the discovery and discussion of what a library is and what it can become.
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QUOTES
“This building is a public space. The splendor and the beauty of the physical building is only important because of the people who fought to preserve it and those who continue to use it to strengthen the quality of their lives every day.” Frank Collerius Jefferson Market Library Manager
“All public space is a creative space - a space of collaboration, discovery, learning, tolerance and togetherness. Jefferson Market was saved by the public for the public - this special place continues to inspire, educate and interact with the very individuals who rescued it from demolition. In this anniversary year we look to celebrate the library and its community.”
Mark John Smith Artist
“Much like my work with the 2012 Olympics, JML50 is designed to engage, inspire and interact. I believe in art as a tool for positive change and development. What’s truly unique about this project is the community that it serves. Looking back and researching the history and evolution of this remarkable building, you come to see how this site has inspired so many. This is a true public space - in making this work I see the public as my collaborators - this is a work made by the public. They inspire me on a daily basis, as does the commitment and dedication of all the staff here at JML - this building is alive, it’s living and breathing, a truly vibrant network as sculpture.”
Mark John Smith Artist
“JML50’s focus is community, unity and collaboration. The history of this remarkable building is one that links inextricably to the narrative and unique personal journeys of all who come to use it. In exploring the archive with the public, what becomes clear is the vibrancy and level of impact that the NYPL has had on so many. In forming this new work, it was important to hand curatorial control over to the public - this led us to discover a remarkable shift in the use of gesture, language and handwriting over the last 100 years of correspondence. The resulting visual impact of this discovery, found in the work on view from November 16th, is one that re-augments the understanding of self and with it, our experience of contemporary society.”
Mark John Smith Artist
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ABOUT NYPL
The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves more than 18 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support.
ABOUT JEFFERSON MARKET BRANCH
Originally a courthouse, the Jefferson Market Library has served the Greenwich Village community for over forty years. The building, a New York City landmark, was designed by architects Frederick Clark Withers and Calvert Vaux (who also assisted in the design of Central Park) in a Victorian Gothic style. It was erected—along with an adjacent prison and market—between 1875 and 1877 and cost the city almost $360,000. What the city got for its money, in addition to an architectural gem—voted one of the ten most beautiful buildings in America by a poll of architects in the 1880s—was a civil court on the second floor, now the Adult Reading Room, and a police court, now the first-floor Children's Room. The beautiful brick-arched basement, now the Reference Room, was used as a holding area for prisoners on their way to jail or trial. Scattered about the building were offices and chambers, and looming a hundred feet above ground was the fire-watcher's tower. The tower, still intact, commands an uninterrupted view of Greenwich Village, and houses the bell that would summon volunteer firemen.
ABOUT MARK JOHN SMITH
Mark John Smith is a British artist based in Brooklyn, New York. He holds an MFA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design and BA Hons Degrees in Fine Art and Art History from The University for the Creative Arts, in the United Kingdom. Mark is a founding member of Franklin Collective and currently serves on the advisory board of Rutgers University's Design Thinking program. This year Mark has exhibited with Franklin Collective at Petzel Gallery, Manhattan, NY in group show WE NEED TO TALK.... I In January 2018, Mark will debut a new body of work and solo show at the Bureau of General Services - Queer Division, New York, NY. In mid-2018, a feature length documentary following his work on JML50 will be released.
ONLINE ASSETS
NYPL
https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl
Jefferson Market Library
https://www.nypl.org/locations/jefferson-market
Mark John Smith
www.markjohnsmith.co.uk
The LIVELIVE Project for London 2012
http://www.markjohnsmith.co.uk/The-LIVELIVE-Project-2012
Press Release PDF
Download your copy here
Images
Peruse our media library here
Image List PDF
Download your copy here
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Slide show: Images from the Jefferson Market Library archive unless otherwise stated.
Images: Into the archive 011, 035, 023, 024. 2017.
Mark John Smith - from the Jefferson Market Library at 50 (JML50) series.
Video: Matthew Whitman 2017
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