Wysing Farmhouse Library
Call out to artists who have stayed at Wysing’s Farmhouse

Artists who have been involved in Wysing’s programme and/or stayed in the Farmhouse at any time over the last 33 years are warmly invited to nominate a book for the Farmhouse Library. The Library was started in 2014 by Ruth Beale & Giles Round as part of the exhibition The Influence of Furniture on Love. It continues to grow as a gift for future guests and and residency artists.

Please fill out the nomination form by clicking here.

Information for Nominations

Artists are invited to nominate a book special to you during your time at Wysing. Books in the collection so far include philosophy, poetry, novels, and non-fiction, from The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt, nominated by Cally Spooner, to Citizen an American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, nominated by Evan Ivekoya, and Love's Work by Gillian Rose, nominated by Gil Leung.

The book can be any genre, the only stipulation is that it is not a book featuring or edited by you. The book will be purchased on your behalf, but please note we have a limited budget so welcome nominations of books under £10 (first or second hand) or up to £20. The book will remain in the Farmhouse and documented and listed online.

About The Farmhouse Library

The Farmhouse Library is a collection of books nominated and donated by artists, curators, and other people with a connection to Wysing’s Farmhouse, as a gift for future guests.  It is an act of generosity from one artist to another, a way of sharing books which relate to thinking, projects and research undertaken at Wysing. Please click here for a full PDF inventory of books.

The collection is ongoing. Artists who have been involved in Wysing’s programme and/or stayed in the Farmhouse at any time over the last 33 years are warmly invited to nominate a book for the Farmhouse Library. The book can be any genre, the only stipulation is that it is not a book featuring or edited by you. The book will be purchased on your behalf, but please note we have a limited budget so welcome nominations of books under £10 (new or second-hand). Please get in touch if your preferred book costs more than this. The book will remain in the Farmhouse and documented and listed online.

The Farmhouse Library was started in 2014 by Ruth Beale & Giles Round as part of the exhibition The Influence of Furniture on Love. The title of the exhibition is taken from an unpublished essay by economist John Maynard Keynes entitled “Can we consume our surplus or the influence of furniture on love”, a handwritten copy of which is held in the archives of King’s College at the University of Cambridge. In the essay, Keynes discusses whether it is possible for the rooms within which we live to “suggest to us thoughts and feelings and occupations?”.