Print Wikipedia in Ghent

On 4 November 2016 the Dutch language Wikipedia was printed as part of an art project of artist Michael Mandiberg. The art project consisted out the printing of some of the 1165 books, and a visual representation of the complete set of books.

This project is not organised by Wikimedia Belgium, but Wikimedia Belgium did organise a meetup on 5 November for those who wanted to see the project. The work/project is also not endorsed by or affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

Purpose

The goal is to show how it would look like if the Dutch Wikipedia would be printed. Printing the complete Dutch Wikipedia (in October 2016) would result in 1165, including two appendixes for listing all the users that contributed to the articles (article namespace only) in the Dutch Wikipedia.

History and background

Printing Wikipedia is not done for the first time. Michael Mandiberg did also similar projects for the English Wikipedia in New York and for the German Wikipedia in Berlin.

The art project in Ghent is part of an international art contest, the New Technological Art Award (NTAA) that is part of the biennial update of Zebrastraat. In total 487 candidates representing 59 nationalities worldwide have registered for the international contest. Print Wikipedia from Michael Mandiberg was selected by the jury as one of the 19 nominated projects for update_6 / NTAA 2016. The 19 nominated projects compete for a prize of the jury, prize of the public and a prize in collaboration with the STARTS-programme of the European Commission.

Contacts

Michael Mandiberg
Romaine for Wikimedia Belgium

Timeline

October 2016 - Snapshot made of the Dutch Wikipedia that had the size of 1065 books. Based on this snapshot the virtual presentation was made.
4 November 2016 - Wikipedia printed installed at Zebrastraat
5 November 2016 - Meetup for anyone who wanted to see the project at Zebrastraat in Ghent
4 December 2016 - Last day of the exhibition update_6 / NTAA 2016
12 June 2017 - Announcement: Boekentoren gets Wikipedia artwork as gift (Twitter) ((internal) OTRS)

18 November 2017 - 4 March 2018 - Exhibition De kunst van lezen. Van William Kentridge tot Wikipedia, which includes the printed Dutch Wikipedia, in Museum Meermanno in The Hague (source (archived))

Statistics

1165 volumes (number of books if the complete Dutch Wikipedia would have been printed)
- Including: 2 appendixes with all the contributors (user names) that contributed to the articles (article namespace)
68 volumes of the 1165 books have been printed and put on the shelves in Ghent