Pak Sheung Chuen’s window sculpture Making Thousands of Suns was made with the cooperation of libraries around Queensland, Australia.
The artwork, conceived by the artist whilst on visit to the State Library of Queensland as part of his Brisbane residency, is inspired by images of the sun collected from book covers found in Queensland library collections. As the artist intended, the window sculpture uses sunlight to metaphorically cast “thousands of suns from one sun” onto the space around it.
In 2010, library staff across Queensland helped the artist create the work simply by loaning books from their collection.
Making Thousands of Suns can be seen in Brisbane at the Red Box room of the State Library of Queensland until 2012. The State Library of Queensland exhibit also features a bespoke bookshelf displaying the books from Queensland public libraries.
A duplicate of Making Thousands of Suns toured to the Shanghai Library, National Library of China and the Hangzhou Public Library as part of the Light from Light 2010-2011 tour.