The MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE project is a community arts initiative founded by the Bookmobile collective, a diverse group of emerging North American artists and community activists. Their mandate is to fuse artistic production with political activism and

community organizing Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community buil ...

. The collective consists of a fluctuating group of dedicated volunteers, coordinators, jury organizers, and tour guides. Although the project is based primarily in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, QC, and

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, PA, collective members reside in various cities throughout North America. The MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE project explores the long-held tradition of

bookmobile A bookmobile, or mobile library, is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Boo ...

s as traveling libraries in order to promote the distribution of information. Since 2000, the project has been selectively collecting and organizing artist's books (that range from handmade and one-of-a-kind pieces, to

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

s, photocopied works, and other independent publications) on an annual basis. Members of the collective present these works to the public in a series of traveling exhibitions that are held throughout the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

with the help of a vintage

Airstream Airstream is an American brand of travel trailer easily recognized by the distinctive shape of its rounded and polished aluminum coachwork. This body shape dates back to the 1930s and is based on the Bowlus Road Chief, an earlier model of the ...

trailer. The

artist collective An artist collective or art group or artist group is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything t ...

also organizes workshops and participates in educational activities on a community level during these tours. Each touring collection consists of about 300 items. In 2005, the collective donated its 2000-2005 collections to

Artexte Information Centre Artexte (in French: Centre d'information ''Artexte'') is an independent, federally chartered not-for-profit arts organization in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its principal mandate is to focus on research, interpretation and dissemination initiatives ...

. This

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

arts organization maintains the collections and provides on-site access to them. Artexte also provides further access to these collections with an electronic guide to individual works, organized by touring year: Projet MOBILIVRE-BOOKMOBILE Project Guide

External links

{{Art-stub Canadian artist groups and collectives