Diego Pérez García
Biblioteca de Nezahualcóyotl [Nezahualcóyotl Library], 2004-2006
Diego Pérez García
Biblioteca de Nezahualcóyotl [Nezahualcóyotl Library], 2004-2006
Mixed media and C-print
175 x 100 x 260 cm
Photo: 105.6 x 133.2 x 4 cm
Referencing Nezahualcóyotl’s library—the largest repository of books in Mesoamerica towards the XV century—Diego Pérez García spent two years recovering books from the garbage or purchasing them from street vendors, and then made them available from a cart pulled by a donkey. He then drove the traveling public library out into the Nezahualcoyotl municipality of Estado de México in an attempt to decentralize knowledge and provide greater access to the history of universal and Mexican literature. Breaking down the institutionalized archive through an encounter with public space in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood, his project upended the idea of a library as an official repository of knowledge.