2023
Artist’s book
18,8 x 12,4 cm x app. 17 m
Installation dimensions variable

2023
Essay
16 pages
Edition of 18

The Yellow Library 1954- is an accordion book rebound from the covers of second hand books, published in Keltainen kirjasto -series (translates as “the yellow libarary”) of Tammi publisher since 1954. The series focus on publishing translation literature. Its distinctive typographical element, the yellow covers with two embossed K letters, remain from decade to decade, yet the colour is never quite the same. It varies depending on the materials used for each edition, time fading and readers wearing out the covers.

The fragmented, 18-part essay entitled Kirjoituksia Keltaisesta (Writings on Yellow), addresses the changes which occur both in the materials used for mass-market books as well as in the meanings of world literature through decades and even centuries. The central figure in the essay is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), who wrote Theory of Colours (1810), but was also one of the first one’s to use the concept of world literature.

The Yellow Library – exhibition title also refers to the venue, which used to be the city library of Tampere from 1920’s till 1980’s.

The Yellow Library 1954- is bound by Kaija Pihlajamäki.