Lending libraries of works of art: use value of collections

The work of art lending libraries in raising awareness of contemporary art over the last twenty years is today known and valued. However, their research activity and artistic commitment are less so. Unrecognised, the collections of art lending libraries are specific in more than one respect. Created with the purpose of circulating and transmitting, they are the only public collections to take over private space, the only ones endowed with a use value. At a time when art is absorbing new technologies, when artists are questioning the narrow ties that link works and receivers, they are called upon to play a determining role in the area of creation in general and of art for the many in particular.
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