Thursday 16 August 2012

GiftED II? - The Literary Banksy Strikes Again


This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas …’

The ‘literary Banksy’ has struck again! Over a period of eight months last year, ten intricate and beautiful sculptures crafted from books were left in libraries, museums and even at the Edinburgh International Book Festival anonymously. Each bore a label thanking the venue for their work, “in support of libraries, books, words, ideas”.

GiftED by Anonymous
A book about the sculptures, GiftED: The Tale of 10 Mysterious Book Sculptures Gifted to the City of Words and Ideas, has just been published by Polygon, and a national tour of the works begins on Saturday in Aberdeen. Today, however, the artist – only ever identified as female – seems to have struck again with the appearance of paper flowers at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, each carrying a line by Oscar Wilde, “… freedom, books, flowers and the moon” and on the reverse A Gift For You and a limited edition number of /50.

A spokesperson for the Edinburgh International Book Festival said, “We are delighted that our mystery paper sculptor has visited us again, and thrilled that members of the public are finding these beautiful flowers around our site.”

GiftEd: The Tale of 10 Mysterious Book Sculptures Gifted to the City of Words and Ideas is available now, £9.99 hbk. Details on the tour of the original paper sculptures can be found at www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/gifted.