picnics is a library and study room informed by slowness and everyday exchanges. Floating between an archive repository and a shared studio, it is designed as an ambiguous space to recreate, where it is not only about doing, but also about being. A place where learning becomes recreational, and cultural generosity is rebuilt from the ground up.
The collection at picnics grows through cross-disciplinary modes of inquiry. Its materials span books and images, digital files, records, tools, and ephemera, allowing visual culture to surface across formats, scales, and uses. As both a reading space and an evolving archive, the library brings together printed matter with working documents, references, and traces of ongoing practice.
More specifically, the archive pays close attention to our hometown’s subcultures. These are gathered not as complete narratives, but as fragments, scenes, gestures, and everyday moments that shape how the city is lived and understood.
Beyond this, the collection extends outward to include independent publications from wider local scenes, alongside titles that move through smaller, informal networks of exchange. Built gradually and with care, it remains open-ended, taking shape over time through relevance, use, and return.
Whether you come to research, read, or simply sit, the space is open for you to engage with the collection at your own pace.
A select range of books, prints, and objects are available for purchase, continually rotated to reflect our latest findings.
We do not charge an entry fee, but if you spend time working or reading here, we simply ask that you purchase a drink or something from our shop.
As an independent initiative, we are currently self-funded and operating primarily on a volunteer basis. Running a public space comes with substantial operational costs. To sustain our work and keep the library accessible, your support is essential. There are several ways to contribute:
1. Purchase our products, artworks, or books available in our shop.
2. Share our program, recommend the library to others, or participate in our events.
3. Direct financial support is always welcome and helps us maintain the space, expand the collection, and continue our programming.
If you would like to contribute in other ways, please feel free to reach out to us.
We welcome publishers, archivists, collectors, and artefacts hoarders to place their materials with us, ranging from books, printed matter, and ephemera to unpublished papers, as well as time-based and audio formats such as video, CD, cassette, and vinyl.
Some materials arrive complete; others are fragmentary or unfinished. Both are held with equal attention. What matters is their presence, their context, and the possibility of being returned to over time.
picnics offers a quiet home for materials that might otherwise remain scattered, unheard, or at risk of disappearing. If you hold something worth preserving, we are open to conversation.