1999-2001/2006
Traces of an action over two years: 110 lambda photographic prints, each 60 x 90 cm; pencil wall drawing; one framed text, 22 x 30 cm; nine framed black and white photographs, each 22 x 30 cm.
Exh.: Zones of Contact, 15th Biennale of Sydney, curated by Dr Charles Merewether, Pier 2/3, 8 June-27 August;
On 30 August 1999 East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to become an independent nation in a ballot sponsored by the UN. Following the announcement of the result, occupying Indonesian troops carried out systematic destruction throughout East Timor. Within two weeks several thousand civilians were murdered (a precise number is unknown), 200,000 were forcibly transported to concentration camps in West Timor and other parts of Indonesia, and most significant infrastructure was destroyed.
Books were targeted for destruction. Libraries were systematically burned, amongst them the widely-used university library and the English library in Dili. Private collections of books were targeted, and in notable cases book collections of prominent intellectuals and independence activists were collected on the street where they were publicly set alight. In villages, schools were systematically destroyed. Action for another library was established in Melbourne in response to these circumstances. Thousands of books were donated by bookstores, libraries, and individuals. They were shipped to Dili in containers where they now form part of the nascent National University Library of East Timor. The title pages of some books were photographed before the books were sent to East Timor.
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A small publication was produced to coincide with the exhibition of the new form of the work at Pier2/3, as part of the 15th Biennale of Sydney, including 'The Practice of Action', an exchange between Dr Charles Merewether, Artistic Director and Curator of the Biennale, and Tom Nicholson.
This work was subsequently exhibited at Anna Schwartz Gallery in Melbourne, 1-30 September 2006.
An earlier form of the work was exhibited at the Humboldt University in Berlin in 2003.
An artist book, After action for another library, was produced to coincide with this Berlin exhibition.
Background on the history of East Timor leading up to After action for another library.
Credits for After action for another library.
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