Libraries of Rest by Ciara Barker is an immersive exhibition that invites visitors to imagine the future of restful spaces and practices.

Libraries of Rest debuted at transmediale studio in Berlin as part of Zeitgeist Irland 24, where audiences were encouraged to consider speculative futures centred on collective well-being, divorced from productivity. Facilitating the creation of a shared resource of ideas for accessing rest, the second iteration of Libraries of Rest at The Dock combines installation, gameplay, sound and light, inhabiting a space between visual art, immersive environment and critical theory.

This interdisciplinary approach is grounded in a material exploration of the body, by creating ephemeral and flexible work that considers people in space. Barker’s investigation of rest as a method of resistance is informed by a number of critical works including texts by Tricia Hersey, Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith, Sonya Renee Taylor and Dr Devon Price. This scholarship is grounded in its examination of structural inequality and rest as a racial, disability rights and social justice issue that disproportionately affects marginalised communities.

Libraries of Rest is curated by Aoife Donnellan with a soundscape by Mankyy.