Abstract

In 2022, contemporary artists Adam Kinner and Christopher Willes approached Concordia University’s Webster Library with a proposal to have their performative artwork MANUAL hosted in the library under the auspices of the Offta Live Art Festival. The library served as a creative incubator and as an immersive platform for Kinner and Willes’s series of intimate, covert, and guided interactions with the public. After a successful run in the Webster Library, the artists continued to develop and present MANUAL in other libraries and festivals across Canada, the UK, Europe, and Asia.

This lightning talk focuses on the initial development of MANUAL as a library-based, exploratory and sensorial artist’s project; how the project evolved over time; and how it navigates through library institutional frameworks. The presentation draws on an interview with Kinner and Willes and, to better understand how MANUAL was experienced by the public, it addresses a selection of published accounts written by individuals who took part in the performance in various libraries. It is also informed by an interview with the coordinator of MANUAL when it was held at the Birmingham Libraries in 2024.