Exhibitions and Libraries As Worldview Machines

Both libraries and exhibitions are spaces where knowledge is produced, organised and transmitted. In them, structures, categories, classifications, and the overall spatial organisation of knowledge, in turn shapes what knowledge is: what is considered valid, what is discarded as unrigorous, what fits inside labels and their rankings, and what is left out and discarded.

This mechanism of spatialisation and validation is subtle and hidden, and yet it is the very foundation on which an intricate and centuries-old Western view of the world is erected. The workshop ‘Worldview Machines’ is an invitation to dive into speculative design histories of how early-modern exhibitions and libraries shaped the way we understand the world today.

Almost 400 years ago, in 1644, Gabriel Naudé, a French librarian and scholar, published Instructions Concerning Erecting of a Library. Many of his suggestions are still at play in 2026. In this workshop, we will start with a time-travelling exploration of the early modern events that shaped how spaces of knowledge were designed. We will use an anti-colonial and intersectional lens to learn about the ideas, motivations, objectives – and even speculate about the feelings – that these white men from the late Middle Ages had, as they lay the foundational structures that continue to shape knowledge today.

Biblioteka and Pina are inviting students from fine art, curatorial, art history, design, architecture, media and communication, animation, games art and other related fields, to an interdisciplinary workshop exploring the design histories of exhibitions and libraries as worldview machines.

We will then analyse radical contemporary examples of libraries and exhibitions as social-spatial practices, to explore how these are transforming the modern/colonial worldview we were born into. The age of extinction is pushing us to consider different knowledge-producing systems – ones that are more entangled, less hierarchical, and more speculative.

Hosted inside Biblioteka at the AA in Bloomsbury, we will use its collection of more than 10,000 artists' books to question the classification of knowledge. During the session, we will work interdisciplinary to understand the ideas and motivations that could reconfigure the design of library and exhibition spaces for us in the present-future. This is a big opportunity for students from related fields in London universities to get to know each other, and explore the potential of joining forces with others to create interdisciplinary futures, and the social-spatial practices that host them and their worldviews.

The workshop will be led by Hlib Velyhorskyi, Founder and Director of Biblioteka, and Catalina Imizcoz, Founder and Editor of Pina.

About Pina

Founded in 2024, Pina is a printed, portable exhibition space. It functions as a commissioning platform, collaborating with artists to create exhibitions existing solely within the magazine. Each commission spans 60 pages, offering artists the space to construct immersive worlds, which audiences can explore as they would any other exhibition. Each issue pairs its exhibitions-in-print with bespoke short stories, inviting two writers to respond to the exhibition layouts through fiction. Issue #1 commissioned Gala Porras-Kim and Asad Raza; issue #2 commissioned Forensic Architecture and Edgar Calel.

About Biblioteka

Biblioteka is an independent library of artists’ publications based at the Architectural Association in London. It holds a collection of over 10000 books covering the last 30 years of art publishing, many of its titles are rare and of print. The library runs a regular programme of readings, screenings, exhibitions and music events. It engages critically with the notion of library as a spatial, architectural, social and cultural project.

Programme

Each of the three workshop sessions is independent. Students are welcome to join just one or all three.

There is no application form and the workshops are free.

Spaces are limited! We ask that you commit to attending or let us know if you can’t make it, so that we can offer your space to someone else.

Each workshop can host 20 students and it’s first-come-first-serve.

Thu 30 Apr, 2–5pm

2.00pm Welcome

2.15pm Imagining a meeting between Naudé and a witch

3.00pm Monsters (screening: c20 min)

3.30pm [break]

3.45pm Libraries as performative spaces

4.30pm Futures without binaries with Biblioteka’s collection

5.00pm End with drinks and snacks

Fri 1 May, 2–5pm

2.00pm Welcome

2.15pm Imagining a meeting between Naudé and La Gata Niebla

3.00pm All the World’s Memories (screening: c20 min)

3.30pm [break]

3.45pm Libraries as performative spaces

4.30pm Futures without “nature” with Biblioteka’s collection

5.00pm End with drinks and snacks

Sat 2 May, 2–5pm

2.00pm Welcome

2.15pm Imagining a meeting between Naudé and Descartes

3.00pm Archiving the Present (screening: c20 min)

3.30pm [break]

3.45pm Libraries as performative spaces

4.30pm Futures without progress with Biblioteka’s collection

5.00pm End with drinks and snacks

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