Warburg Institute to receive major gift from Edmund De Waal
We are honoured to have been gifted the inscribed porcelain structure of Edmund de Waal's library of exile, which we plan to incorporate into the new design of the Institute as part of the Warburg Renaissance.
The external walls of the library of exile are painted with liquid porcelain and inscribed with the names of the great lost libraries of the world. Our Director, Bill Sherman said of the gift:
We are honoured and moved by Edmund’s gift. It will put his library of exile into one of the world’s great exiled libraries; and it will become a visible part of the Warburg Renaissance, a building project that will create new possibilities for artistic partnership and public engagement.
In addition to his gift to the Warburg, Edmund de Waal will donate almost 2,000 books from his acclaimed installation to the Mosul University Library in Iraq to help rebuild its collection which was almost destroyed in 2015 by the group calling itself the Islamic State.
library of exile was conceived as a temporary pavilion designed as a place of contemplation and dialogue, where visitors are encouraged to sit and read the books almost all of which are in translation, exploring the idea of language as migration - from Ovid, Tacitus and Voltaire to the German children’s writer Judith Kerr. It was first unveiled during the Venice Biennale in 2019 at the 16th century Ateneo Veneto (May – September 2019), before travelling to the Japanisches Palais, Dresden (November 2019 – February 2020) and The British Museum, London (March 2020 – January 2021).
Warburg Renaissance
The Warburg Renaissance is a major project which will transform the Warburg Institute by restoring its original vision and prepare it for future generations. This involves enhancing the Institute’s academic resources, teaching facilities and public offerings, creating new facilities for special collections, exhibitions and events, and consolidating meaningful links with our academic and artistic communities.
The Library will be expanded to allow for at least 20 years of growth, along with refurbished stacks and improved climate control. In its new home, at the heart of our remodelled building, the library of exile honours the Warburg’s history and ambitions for the future. Today it is the only institution saved from Nazi Germany to survive intact in Britain today, with literature in translation and the work of refugee and migrant writers and thinkers central to its mission.
We are currently seeking philanthropic support of £5 million to complete the Warburg Renaissance, and looking for partners to help us write the next chapter of our illustrious history.