Street mini-libraries to appear in Kyiv

Popular worldwide, social project involving creation of street mini-libraries will come to Kyiv this spring. These libraries look like small boxes filled with various books. Anyone may borrow a book out of such box. Once the book is read, it is considered good form to return it to its place, or replace it by another from one’s home library.

Activists set small ‘birdhouses’ in the Shevchenko Park last year, one containing children’s books, and the other filled with adult literature. The idea seemed to be successful, so the Kiev Fashion Park (KFP) resolved to build on it and announced a competition to create art boxes that would decorate the city. According to the first Ukrainian park of modern sculpture and installations’ curator Tetiana Shatts, everyone is welcome to participate in the contest, with desire and creative vision being the chief requirements. There are no restrictions on the design, provided that the frame is vandal-proof and does not include brittle and small parts that can be easily torn off or damaged. The competition’s winner will be the project that will evoke the street library with its looks and cause the desire to read. “The main objective of this project is to revive the book culture,” Shatts summed up.