Alexandra Robinson. Installation Art. Fall 2016.
We were given the theme “multiples” and asked to create an installation in which we were to interpret what exactly “multiple” meant and take on that task how we would like.
When I thought of the word multiple I thought of having A LOT of one thing. I thought about books.
The following is the general description of my piece and a quick sketch of the idea-
The concept of multiples in this installation would be used as a way to hold a book drive and display the books donated that will then later be donated. When I think of the word multiple, I think of an abundance of a material/object. I thought about the multiple things that are tossed out because they are no longer useful and the re-using of them. Book drives aren’t something new and are done all the time. However, this book drive would take the books donated and use them to create a public installation. After the installation has been displayed, the books would be donated to El Buen Samaritano a non-profit that is “committed to helping families in Central Texas lead healthy, productive and secure lives through high-quality and affordable healthcare, education and financial security services” (elbuen.org) so that the books can be used by the youth program there.
The first thing I had to do was collect books. I sat outside of the Fine Arts building for two Thursdays from 9:30-11:00 am and 5:00-7:00 pm. Although I didn’t collect many books while sitting out there it did give me practice in articulating what exactly it was that I was doing. While sitting out there I was also able to gather a list of e-mails that I could send reminders to about my book drive.
Collecting books was hard and at many times I was very discouraged about not receiving books. It wasn’t until I checked up on people, reminded them about the books and contacted people in a variety of ways that I started to get books.
I was receiving books up until the day of installing the books which was Tuesday, November 1st. My proposed location for this installation was on the first floor of JBWS. There is a pillar in the middle of an open area that people a lot of times tend to ignore, or not realize that it is there. I wanted my books to go around pillar specifically for that reason. I wanted students to become aware of the pillar and bring attention to the books. 
Night one of installation was one where I learned how to place books in a way that they would not fall over. I tried stacking books in piles by size and wanted to place all the big books towards the bottom and the smaller ones towards the top. This worked but I realized that I needed a mixture of the two throughout. I also decided to add in pieces of drawer liners to add some tension between the books to avoid sliding.
The following are pictures of night one of installation.
The day after installing my books I was told I had to remove the books because the location was not ideal due to high traffic in the area. I was told to move the books to this pillar.
The location was not ideal but it worked out. Since the back of the pillar is inside offices this meant that the installation itself would be higher. The second time installing the books was way easier and faster than the first since I already had the experience from the first.
