Open House

Please join us at our Open House to introduce the Working Library. We want to get to know you, so bring your favorite book to be photocopied for our inaugural archiving project. The first of many things on our shelves made by you.

March 9, 2017,6-9 pm
8836 N Lombard Street

Thunder Lizard

Join Chelsea Werner-Jatzke as she reads some poems from her proposal to the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature for the stability of the name brontosaurus.

June 3, 2017, 7 - 9 pm

Structures for (re)organization; libraries within the library

We had a great day with Abra Ancliffe’s PNCA Publishing Class. We discussed structures organizing, we self-organized into ersatz librarian working groups each utilizing a new systems for re-ordering the Working Library’s contents.

September 2017

How to make coffee and other things : tamales!

Join c3:Working Library resident, Jodie Cavalier and ersatz librarian, Laura O’Quin for some instant coffee and tamales! An informal collaborative investigation into hospitality, heritage, traditions, recipes, and rituals.

November 5, 2017, 10 am-12 pm

Potluck of rituals

Join Working Library for an evening of food, conversations, and activities around rituals for the new year. This is the last event organized by Working Library artist in residence, Jodie Cavalier. Bring something to share. Free and open to all.

January 27th, 2018, 6 pm

The whale library

The "Library Whale" occupied one shelf in the library. On the front of the shelf there are seven doors, each opening to a Library of Congress category (fine arts, science, bibliography, etc.). Behind each door items are left, exchanged or donated. Visitors were encouraged to borrow from or exchange the items housed in the whales body.

​About Sylvie Dakota Huhn:
A part-time librarian and artist, Sylivie’s work explores short-term working memory. She works in information management while simultaneously continuing creative practices.

Unleash the plant deep within

Visiting Artist, Benjamin Hao will guide us through a series of prompts to create botanical drawings based on our deep and inherent knowledge of plants, which he will help us unleash.

Four FREE Workshops:
April 11, 12, 14, 2017, 6-9 pm +
April 15, 2017, 9:30am-12:30 pm

A reading in celebration of being human on earth

​A reading to celebrate the release of The Obvious Earth by Nabil Kashyap, a book of stories from around the earth. Miranda Mellis will also be reading from one of her many tremendous books including one published by Carville Annex Press, THE INSTEAD, a conversation with Emily Abendroth.

July 28, 2017, 7 pm

Mr Noise Soup

“People like Mr. Noise Soup looooove contact mics, so when this stranger pulled out what I immediately identified as one, I was definitely expecting a noise stew of sorts. I was not let down. This guy had everything attached to them: tables, a book, typewriter, chairs, a notebook, even a dang teacup.”
-Anonymous Yelper

Alex Reed Wilson aka Mr. Noise Soup lives in Portland, Oregon. He makes musical compositions and skate videos. He’s also a poor swimmer.

October 28, 2017, 2 pm

Nº2 Scent launch & pencil pop-up

A super special unveiling of a pencil perfume conceived by ersatz librarian, Rory Sparks and blended by the lovely and talented, Catherine Haley Epstein. A collaboration combining a love for scents and pencils—a one of a kind homage to a favorite studio tool.

Scent launch | December 15, 2017, 6-9 pm

Pencil pop up | Sunday, Dec 17, 2017, 1-6 pm

Introduction to scent in art practice

Join us for a workshop with Catherine Haley Epstein at Working Library, where she will provide a brief history of olfactory art and introduce contemporary artists using scent, weave in notes from anthropologists' olfactory findings, and address the challenges of using scent in the typical art setting. Suggested donation $15, email us to sign-up.

February 4, 2018, 2-4 pm

Sobremesa

The Sobremesa Reading Circle is a regular discussion series framed around an evolving library of articles, media, and art. Each volume contains a set of individually bound articles (which can include images, memes, videos, songs, etc.) around a loose theme. Taken as a whole, the articles contradict, nuance, and amplify each other, in order to provoke questions and debate. Participants meet regularly to discuss the readings and, through facilitated conversation, to explore as a group themes, questions, and connections that illuminate what it means to be alive and human today.

What is the reason you get up in the morning?

What is a reason is an on-going interactive exhibition that investigates our ever changing motivations to get up and brave the day ahead. Answers are collected on small tags with the optional addition of your name and fingerprint. We invite you to join over 1300 others and add your voice to the show @reasonyougetup
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OPENING PARTY | May 13th, 2017, 6-9 pm
Join the artist on Saturdays
May 13, 20, 27 + June 3: 1-4 pm

Love sick social

For many of us this last political year has been fraught with radical change and unsettling outcomes. Apart from the feeling of disillusionment and despair on the national and regional political stage we find ourselves in conflict and detached from our loved ones. How do we start to heal and reestablish communication and connection to those we hold dear but politically disagree with?

Love Sick Social is a vehicle for initial connections and open dialogues. Join visiting artist Jess Dudek and write a valentine for a loved one.

August 19, 2017 12-6 pm

Politics & Aesthetics: Critical theory & critical practice

A symposium with Evergreen State College. The following thank you from Eirik captures the spirit of the symposium.

“and thank you ALL for engaging our students with such a dynamic afternoon. The conversation in the vans on the way home were non stop, a veritable popcorn machine of enthusiasm….”

October 2017

How to make coffee & other things: mugs!

Come hang out with Charles Froelick and Will Moss for an informal gathering about mugs, collecting, and instant coffee.
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​How to Make Coffee and Other Things is an ongoing investigation into how objects, individuals, and ideas are interconnected.

January 7th, 2018,10 am-12 pm

How to make coffee & other things: hunger

Join Vi Khi Nao, Dao Strom & Stacey Tran of She Who Has No Master(s) at the Working Library. She Who Has No Master(s) is a project that promotes interaction and collaboration between women writers of the Vietnamese diaspora. At this event we will celebrate Stacey Tran’s new poetry collection, Soap for the Dogs, with exercises exploring hunger and food memories through poetry.

February 23, 2018, 7-9 pm

I am part of something bigger

Come hang out in the library and spend some time with Courtney Daily’s zine, artist book collection, acquired over many years of travel, exchange and purchasing.

Courtney Daily is a collaborator and organizer of projects both large and small currently from her homebase in Portland, where she is a creative director by day. She is a co-founder of project MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE project. Prior to moving west, she lived in Philadelphia and was a member of Space 1026, a collective gallery and studio space, for seven years.