The Dreamer’s Library Station is a setting, commissioned by CURA., for the gathering of people and publications. Conceived by the artist Can Altay, the setting is called to display the ongoing collection of books selected by the participating artists of the latest edition of the Belgrade Biennale. The set consists of a series of planks and chairs, forming bridges, shelves, stacks, and connections. As such, the station has the potential to get dispersed, concentrated, assembled, or spread around, in this space and others. This setting invites the visitors to hang around and stay awhile. The possibility of exchange, and cohabitation among people and things is key.

Incorporating narrative devices and spatial instruments, Can Altay produces “settings” that act as sites of collective production, and open themselves to common use. His works have been exhibited at institutions such as Walker Art Center, PS1 MoMA, ZKM, MAXXI, Van Abbe Museum, SALT; with solo shows in Bolzano, Istanbul, Utrecht, London, Berlin, and Bristol. He is also running the podcast ‘Ahali Conversations with Can Altay’ focusing on the future of cultural production; together with artists, designers, and thinkers to imagine a broader understanding of meaning-making.

Can Altay was born in 1974. Lives and works in Istanbul, Turkey.

CURA.’s commission 2022
© Can Altay
All rights reserved
Photo by Roberto Apa