Garden as a reading room: portable library for collective constellations

Clara Goldenstein, Maedeh Hoseini - Garden as a reading room: Portable library for collective constellations at Obilní trh

For a while and together, we will inhabit Obilní trh park, between the water fountain and the statue Dívka se džbány. The garden becomes a space for contemplation and shared attention. To mark the first month of spring, the library will be brought into the garden. We will bring a portable “mini-library” composed of poetry, short stories, pocket dictionaries and theoretical fragments.
Participants are invited to choose, exchange, read aloud, copy, use a book as an oracle, rearrange or position texts in relation to one another within the garden space. Through simple prompts, we will collectively generate temporary constellations of language – on benches, on the ground, between plants.
The session unfolds as a shared act of reading, writing and listening, re-creating meaning from existing materials through interaction with the site. By recombining together, we will play with the suspension of fixed narratives. This collective activation of language seeks to open meanings that emerge from in-betweenness and imagination. No final outcome is required; the focus lies simply on attention.
Language: English.