The Garden Library for Refugees and Migrant Workers was founded in 2009 as a social-artistic urban community project by ARTEAM, an interdisciplinary art collective.
The library is located in the Lewinsky Park, by the Tel Aviv central bus station. It has no walls or door. It is comprised of two bookcases, which are supported by the walls of a public shelter located in the heart of the park. The taller structure contains books for the adult readers. It is transparent and illuminated from within so that, at night, the books glow in the park. Across from it is a shorter – children’s height – cabinet. The doors to the small cabinet swing down to form a parquet floor for the children to sit on and review the books.
A high, permanent canopy stretches above the two structures, which provides shelter from the sun and rain, protects the books and the visitors, and establishes a space for browsing, reading and social meetings.
Why a library?
Because we see the right to a book as a fundamental human right.
Because, as alluded to in the opening quote by S.Y. Agnon, a book provides both escape and shelter, a home, an identity, and a mother tongue.
Why in Lewinsky Park?
Because this is the place migrant workers congregate on weekends. It was important for us that the library come to the people, that those who maintain illegal immigrant status will come without fear, that the library would not have a closed door or a guard at the entrance who would check and ask questions.