Chanan Delange
EX Libris
Libraries and Books
An Artist book, The Green Box, Berlin, 2014
Clothbound hardcover, 24x34 cm, 200 pp.
The catalogue was published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum showing a sculptural installation entitled ‘ex libris’ by the designer chanan de lange. The works of de lange, a lecturer at bezalel academy of arts and design in jerusalem, reinterpret the personality and form of raw materials in order to fashion designs promoting humanity and accessibility.
in ‘ex libris’, two semi-circular structures flow outwards in three angles, each comprised of several metal poles, stabilizing the installation. the shelves are constructed from reused studio boards and drawing tablets from bezalel academy and have the capacity to house up to 20,000 books. de lange, who has designed several libraries through out his career, raises the question of functionality and comfort in this piece, by organizing the structure in a circular plan with books laid down horizontally in this storage method. publications may be selected from ‘ex libris’ without disrupting the others due to the tilted, cradling nature of the shelving system. the library design provides a more accessible floor plan in which patrons may move about the fluid space, circulating the units without navigating corners in this free-flowing, novel repository.







