Bibylon by Thierry Mortier

“Bibylon” is a celebration of democracy, collaboration, education, culture and everyone’s future, namely the children of the world. Now “Bibylon” – a mobile library featuring 640 children’s books in 66 languages, representing 45 countries – is being exhibited in the Workshop at Malmö Konsthall.

“Bibylon” is a mobile, public artwork created by the artist Thierry Mortier (Belgium/Sweden) in collaboration with Weld, an independent platform for experimental processes in art and dance. The work is financed by Kulturrådet (Swedish Arts Council). More about “Bibylon”.

The program is a part of Förbjuden kulturvecka (Forbidden Culture Week), which takes place in Malmö from November 20 to 26. More about the Forbidden Culture Week.

“In 2021 Sweden celebrated 100 years of democracy at a time when democracy was no longer considered self-evident: only 2 years earlier, in 2019, the municipal council of Sölvesborg, a small city in the Southern part of Sweden, decided to stop buying books in foreign languages for its school libraries, an indisputable violation of the national library law. It renewed the debate on integration politics, where the scientific point of view remained firm, namely that it’s easier for immigrant children to learn a local language when they get the opportunity to start reading in their (foreign) mother tongue.”

Thierry Mortier, artist