La Biblioteca de Babel ('The Library of Babel') is one of my favourite short stories by the Argentine Jorge Luis Borges. In it he imagines the universe as an infinite library, with books of identical size containing everything that can be expressed in writing, their order and content apparently completely meaningless.
José Ignacio Díaz de Rábago borrows the book's title for his current installation in the Círculo de Bellas Artes, the eleventh part of a series in galleries and public buildings across Spain.
Biblioteca de Babel XI is built with books discarded by libraries, which tumble down eight floors of the CBA's gorgeous art deco staircase into a scattered heap in the basement.
The intention is to question the material nature of writing: by taking the books out of their context their content becomes meaningless, and they become part of the architecture.
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Made up of over 2000 books and towering for 50 metres up the spiral staircase, it's beautiful to look at. Light pours pleasingly through the windows onto the quiet and atmospheric 1920s staircase: whether you buy into the message or not, it's spectacular.
