As part of the Librarians-in-Residence public programming, Alvin and Yuchen will organise a series of in-person group reading sessions throughout the next six months. The groups will meet on a bi-weekly to monthly basis for close reading of selections from recently acquired titles, accompanied by supplementary reading materials selected by the librarians.

The first reading group will centre on the idea of pleasure. The group will meet for a close reading of ‘Pleasure’, a conversation between artist Zheng Bo and curator Phillip E. Bloom recently published in Zheng’s book Wanwu I (our March acquisition). In this conversation, Zheng and Bloom discuss their respective investigations into the idea of pleasure: for Zheng, a study of the sensual pleasure in human engagement with plants, and for Bloom, research on the significance of pleasure in premodern Chinese garden practice. According to Bloom, premodern gardening was pleasurable in a holistic sense, affording at once both sensory delight and intellectual stimulation. Informed by Zheng and Bloom’s texts, the discussion aims to consider the relationship between feeling and knowing, the role of pleasure in knowledge acquisition, the ways in which various artists have employed pleasure or related affective means in their practices, and how the library can learn from premodern Chinese gardens for its future growth.

CORE READING MATERIALS

‘Pleasure’, Zheng Bo in Conversation with Phillip E. Bloom, from Wanwu I (March acquisition)

Phillip E. Bloom, The Pleasure of the Chinese Garden lecture

SUPPLEMENTARY READING MATERIALS

Roland Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text (PDF)

Marie Canet, Marc Camille Chaimowicz: Reverie, Its Practice and Means of Display (select chapters)

FREE ENTRY, BOOKING HERE*

*The event is RSVP-essential and is limited to 14 attendees. RSVPed readers will receive the reading materials and a series of questions prepared by the Librarians before the event. Participating readers are welcome to bring other texts they find relevant to the theme to share with the group.

The first reading group session is convened by Alvin Li, with support from Zheng Bo.

OPEN LIBRARY

From April through June, during selected Thursday afternoons, our London-based librarian Alvin will be physically present at Asymmetry HQ to introduce newly acquired books and answer any questions RSVPed guests might have.

OPENING HOURS

Thu 20th Apr 1PM - 5:30PM

Thu 4th May 1PM - 5:30PM

Thu 18th May 1PM - 5:30PM

Thu 25th May 1PM - 5:30PM

Thu 1st June 1PM - 5:30PM

Thu 8th June 1PM - 5:30PM

Thu 22nd June 1PM - 5:30PM

FREE ENTRY, BOOKING HERE