EDINBURGH.- Stills gallery has undergone a radical transformation. Until November, an open reference library with an eclectic array of over 7,700 books from the personal collection of the prolific artist, writer and political agitator, Martha Rosler, will fill the space. Curious readers can delve into volumes on photography, war, economics and political science, flick though comic books or browse maps and newspaper clippings.

One of Americaʼs most important living artists, Martha Rosler seeks to establish new spaces for thinking and questioning. Often working with photography, she generates ideas by creating links between what appear to be entirely different worlds. Users can reflect this approach by creating new pathways into the material, forging new connections and associations according to their own particular interests.

The Library was first opened to the public by the artist Anton Vidokle in November 2005 as a storefront reading room at e-flux, on Ludlow street in New York City. It has since travelled to Frankfurter Kunstverein, MuHKA, Antwerp, unitednationsplaza, Berlin, Institut national dʼhistoire de lʼart, Paris and Site, Liverpool.

Whenever the Library docks into a venue – be it a shop front, a gallery or an office above a supermarket – it evolves in response to its new geographical and social location. A repository of knowledge and ideas, it settles, breathes and lives again as new readers arrive and new discussions begin. In Autumn 2008, the next chapter will commence at Stills, another unique context, this time with a particular focus on photography.

Founded over thirty years ago, Stills invites people to explore photography in the context of contemporary art and culture. Our darkrooms and digital studios place production at the core of our activities as we seek to catalyse the creation of new ideas, works and dialogues, which are reflected in our exhibition programme. We are particularly delighted to be working with the Martha Rosler Library at this point in our development as it contributes to both our thinking around current artistic practice as a site for exchange and reflection and the role that the public space of the art gallery can play in supporting this process.