A book that turns pages in the wind, at the top hovers a bird with its wings fluttering; this bird of wisdom seems to perch on a tree. On the afternoon of February 22, Shanghai Library released a new version of the logo in the newly completed East Library, with the visual image of the wind and the sails and birds flying over the mountains and seas, implying that the Shanghai Library will fully introduce people-oriented, detail-oriented and experience-oriented design thinking, and plant a poetic habitat belonging to Shanghai, the "people's city".
In 1996, when the Middle Huaihai Road building of the Shanghai Library was completed and opened, the first edition of the triangular shape was released. The new LOGO, written by designer Chen Youjian, is more concise and flat, and the multiple images contained in the LOGO are not only an interpretation of the era of big reading, but also an interpretation of the Shanghai Library's "intelligence, inclusiveness, interconnection" 3i transformation strategy.
"I hope that the new LOGO can refresh readers' stereotypes about the library, such as the book mountain has a road for the road, and the learning sea is endless." Reading requires 'diligence' and 'bitterness', but the library is no longer just a library for hard reading. As the largest public library in the world's world-class cities, Shanghai Library will be committed to empowering culture with technology, helping librarians carry out smart business, and allowing readers to immerse themselves in smart architectural spaces and enjoy convenient, efficient and innovative smart services. Chen Chao, director of the Shanghai Library, explained.
With a construction area of about 115,000 square meters, the East Building is the largest library in China, with 7 floors above ground and 2 floors underground, and can provide nearly 6,000 seats after opening, meeting the cultural needs of more than 200 lectures and thousands of academic activities every year, and the annual reception of readers can reach 4 million. The whole building is like a piece of jade being carved, and the designer positions it as "a readable building, shaped like a piece of jade that is being carefully carved, located in the urban forest", and the new LOGO makes it easier for readers to associate with the beautiful beveled facet of the "jade" in the East Pavilion.
In addition to the new LOGO, the Shanghai Library has also launched a complete set of visual recognition systems completed by designer Shen Haopeng. The "List of Invited Artists of the East Pavilion" was also released at the scene, and Xu Bing and 10 other well-known Contemporary Artists at home and abroad have been invited to create around the characteristics of the library since the beginning of the construction of the East Pavilion, integrating the beauty of art into the reading space.
For example, the stone used in contemporary experimental ink artist Gu Wenda's "Alpine Elevation" is taken from Shandong Province, originating from the Confucian homeland, so it is called "Confucian Stone", and the words "Alpine" and "Elevation" are carved with wrapping and engraving technology, which looks like ink works, but in fact there is no paper, no pen and no ink.
Another example is the installation artist Zheng Zhengbin's "Flying Stone", which combines the geometric block composed of metal materials with the electronic screen that symbolizes information civilization, and the LED screen can play real-time images of the external scenery, when the electronic screen becomes the "paper" of this era, reflecting the ancient and modern changes in the way information is transmitted.
Shen Fan, an abstract artist who created "Spring and Autumn" for the ground of the atrium on the first floor, came to the scene. This work is based on an old newspaper, and when the figurative text is dissolved by time, it leaves paragraphs and punctuation, intuitively expressing the formal beauty of the paragraph structure in the book. Shen Fan explained that punctuation is a universal language in the world, and punctuation is the pause of reading, the blank space of thinking, and the prosody mark of words. The atrium hall is the first important stop after the reader arrives at the library, and is the starting point of each reading journey of the reader, "Back and Forth Spring and Autumn" tries to show the pure rhythm and rhythm of the text after being extracted from the content, presenting the viewer with a silent movement.
"This work originates from the newspaper and transcends the newspaper, and behind the pure black and white, lines and punctuation, there are hidden words, symbols, and codes, presenting the artist's understanding of words and writing." Every reader who enters the library is both a reader and a writer, and when the atrium is resting, he steps on the 'Spring and Autumn', looks up at the sky, thinks about the universe, and feels the meaning of 'knowing everything and saying everything' brought by the artist. Huang Xiangong, director of the Historical Documentation Center of the Shanghai Library, interpreted it this way.
Xu Bing's installation works are suspended in the open reading plaza on the third floor, and the artist has come to the scene several times to personally adjust the hanging position; children's readers can encounter the childlike works of Australian artist Emily Freud in the exclusive reading area... 10 groups of works by 10 artists will be unveiled one after another.
Chen Chao mentioned that there is a common 1% principle in the world, that is, at least 1% of the cost of a public building is invested in works of art. For the library, this is not only the creation of a reading environment, but also the integration of the entire city "architecturally readable" public artworks, "Shanghai's streets have appeared more and more public sculptures, many commercial buildings for art demand is also increasing, which makes the artistic concept of the East Pavilion above come naturally." ”
At the press conference, blind reader Han Xingchen interpreted the adapted song "Ocean of Knowledge" with the accompaniment of the live band; the robot representing the wisdom librarian showed the application of the whole set of visual recognition systems diffracted from the LOGO in the library scene with "hot dance". "At the time of the release of the new LOGO, it is precisely when the Shanghai Library is seeking transformation, we insist on paying equal attention to public reading promotion and professional graphic services, and promote the Central Huaihai Road Library and the newly completed East Library to go hand in hand, and transform the overall transformation into a new type of library in the all-media era." Chen Chao said.