# 20,000 political books to be donated via horizontal Big Ben model

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/07/02/20000-political-books-to-be-donated-via-horizontal-big-ben-model/
- Published: 2021-07-02T08:02:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**A collection of 20,000 donated books about British politics will themselves be
donated to members of the public and community groups as part of a giant model of
a toppled Big Ben in central Manchester.**

**Big Ben Lying Down with Political Books** is a 42 metre replica of Big Ben that
is the work of Argentinian artist Marta Minujín. It goes on display, lying horizontally
and covered in the books, in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, from 2 to 18 July
as part of the [Manchester International Festival](https://mif.co.uk/).

![Marta Minujín. Photo: Ronny Hartmann, Marta Minujín Archive. Source: Manchester
International
Festival](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2021/07/Retrato.-Ph.-
Ronny-Hartmann.-Credito.-Marta-Minujín-Archive-1024x575.jpg)

Marta Minujín. Photo: Ronny Hartmann, Marta Minujín Archive. Credit: Manchester 
International
Festival

The books are copies of 150 titles that have been chosen by Manchester organisations
such as the People’s History Museum and Working Class Movement Library. They include:

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 * **Oliver Twist**, by Charles Dickens
 * **The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics**, by
   David Goodhart
 * **The Suffragette Movement**, by Sylvia Pankhurst
 * **You Are A Champion**, by Marcus Rashford

![Political books on Big Ben Lying Down With Political Books by Marta Minujín. Photo:
Fabio De Paolo. Credit: Manchester International Festival](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.
cloud/2021/07/marta-minujin-big-ben-lying-down-political-books-fabio-de-paolo-manchester-
international-festival-2-1024x678.png)

Political books on Big Ben Lying Down With Political Books by Marta Minujín. Photo:
Fabio De Paolo. Credit: Manchester International Festival

The books will be available for ‘redistribution’ on 17 and 18 July. “Everyone is
invited to come to the site and take away a book for free”. Remaining books will
be distributed amongst schools, community organisations and prisons.

> I love my Big Ben Lying Down!!! [@MIFestival](https://twitter.com/mifestival?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [#mif21](https://twitter.com/hashtag/mif21?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [#bigbenlyingdown](https://twitter.com/hashtag/bigbenlyingdown?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [#martaminujin](https://twitter.com/hashtag/martaminujin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [pic.twitter.com/gTFFFYqMwb](https://t.co/gTFFFYqMwb)
> — Marta Minujin (@martaminujin) [June 25, 2021](https://twitter.com/martaminujin/status/1408539884084736000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

Minujin’s previous large-scale works include **The Parthenon of (once banned) Books**
in Argentina, featuring 30,000 books banned by the _junta_. The work was reimagined
in 2017 in Documenta 14, Kassel, Germany, but this time featuring books banned by
the Nazis.

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