For Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine, a group of people memorise a book of their choice. Together they form a library collection consisting of living books. The 'books' are passing their time in a library, sitting in chairs, walking around, talking together, looking out of the window, reading in paperbooks from the shelves, ready to be consulted by a visitor. The visitors of the library choose a 'book' they would like to 'read', and the 'book' brings its 'reader' to a place or setting in the library, in the cafeteria, or for a walk outside, while reciting its content (and possibly valid interpretations).

The idea for this library of living books comes from the science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451. It is a future vision of a society where books are forbidden because they are considered dangerous, that happiness must be obtained through an absence of knowledge and individual thought. The number 451 refers to the temperature at which book paper starts to burn. As books are forbidden in this society an underground community of people learn books by heart in order to preserve them for the future. 

In the Hong Kong iteration, with the participation of students from the French International School of Hong Kong, the living library includes books by Flaubert, Giono, Melville, and others.

Concept: Mette Edvardsen

With: 

Project coordination: Caroline Ha Thuc, Alice Rensy

Production assistant: Hedvig Bergem Søiland

Graphic design print: Michaël Bussaer

Production: Mette Edvardsen/ Athome

Co-production: Dubbelspel - STUK Kunstencentrum & 30CC (Leuven), Dance Umbrella (London), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), NEXT Arts Festival (Valenciennes, Lille, Kortrijk, Villeneuve d'Ascq), Wiener Festwochen (Vienna), Oslobiennalen First Edition 2019 - 2021 (Oslo), Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid), Dansehallerne (Copenhagen), 34th São Paulo Biennale (São Paulo), centre chorégraphique national de Caen in Normandie (Caen), Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers (Auberviliers)

Supported by: Norsk Kulturråd

Additional support by: Fond for Lyd og Bilde, Fond for Utøvende Kunstnere, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Flemish Authorities

Special thanks to: Bibliothèque royale de Belgique/Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, Sarah Vanhee, Els De Bodt

Thanks to: Maya Wilsens, Frøydis Århus, Cillian O'Neill, Andrea Skotland for production assistance

Title: 'Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine' is a sentence from a book by Alexander Smith appearing in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953).

Mette Edvardsen 

The work of Mette Edvardsen is situated within the performing arts field as a choreographer and performer. Although some of her works explore other media or other formats, such as video, books, and writing, her interest is always in their relationship to the performing arts as a practice and a situation. She presents her works internationally and continues to develop projects with other artists, both as a collaborator and as a performer. A retrospective of her work was presented at Black Box theatre in Oslo in 2015, and the focus programme Idiorritmias at MACBA in Barcelona in 2018. Her project Time has fallen alseep in the afternoon sunshine has been ongoing since 2010, presented twice at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels in 2013 & 2017, Sydney Biennale in 2016, Index Foundation in Stockholm in 2019, Oslobiennalen First Edition in 2019-2020, Trust & Confusion at Tai Kwun Arts in Hong Kong in 2021, Sao Paulo Biennale 2021. She presented works and a performative exhibition Suppose a Room at Amant in New York in 2022, and develops a project in long-term residency at Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers in Paris 2022/2023. Mette Edvardsen is structurally supported by Norsk Kulturråd (2022 - 2026).

Website metteedvardsen.be