Finding objects, connecting dots

Abstract

Between 2017 and 2019, I created three temporary artistic interventions in public spaces in which passers-by could discover, interact with or ignore different materials related to libraries as social, public systems. During my work with the first, Expired Outdoors (2017), serendipity emerged as a principle I became interested in exploring further. In two consecutive installations, serendipity gradually manifested itself both as an interface between my installations and their audience and as a creative strategy guiding my choices of contexts and materials. Upon invitation from editor Olga Schmedling, in this article I discuss aspects of serendipity in the three projects, proposing to understand serendipity as instances of interruption rather than as accidental discovery.