YOU ARE HERE is a meditation on wayfinding systems, reflecting on the psychological states of searching and the pursuit of extreme specificity. It focuses on references from the Rijksakademie Library collection, thinking through what answers a library built for artists has to offer on navigation. The chapters move through logics of mapping and categorisation at different scales within books, libraries, bodies, and cities.

The research began as an attempt to make an alternative wayfinding guide for the Rijksakademie library. In consulting the library collection and looking for what answers a collection made for artists had to offer, it was clear the material didn’t necessarily provide clarity or clues for efficiency, and at times promoted indecision and distraction. The research for the guide slowly turned into a compilation of excerpts from across the collection and then into a bibliographic essay on naming, searching, finding, and losing.

Available at the Rijksakademie library collection.