'Ten Important Books' at CAST
41/42 presents 'Ten Important Books', an exhibition for the 'test-space' at CAST, from Thursday 18 June 2026.
The exhibition continues a project begun in 2011* when an initial list of ten people - artists, designers and curators - were invited to submit lists of their ten most important books. Since then, the project has expanded through exhibitions at Mirror, Plymouth (2012), The NewBridge Project, Newcastle (2013), Hannah Barry Gallery, London (2013), Detroit, Bristol (2013), the V&A, London (2013), and 0fr, Paris (2015).
What's Important?
This is a small branch of an ongoing project. What happens when a format is repeated again and again? In a culture that thrives on novelty, repetition can feel like resistance. And reading is, too, a form of protest.
In gathering this new set of lists, connections appeared instantly. Looking back through earlier iterations of the project, more links surfaced: books, authors and practices that have outlived the moment they first seemed to belong to. These overlaps between books and people are comforting - a kind of literary archaeology. Two people, the same book, the same sentence underlined decades apart, together in quiet conspiracy. Reading groups and book clubs flourish, proving that people will happily spend two hours discussing books-in-common even if only half of the group has read them.
What matters here is not “best”, “top” or even “favourite”. It’s something closer to important. Important books are the ones that stay with us. The ones we return to, or that return to us. They outlast our excuses, our algorithms, our productivity systems, our attention spans and, well, usually several house moves.
Drawing links between people through books is fairly easy, but compiling a list and offering it up for scrutiny is not. We’re grateful to everyone who contributed, and aware that narrowing a lifetime of reading into ten books requires a bit of personal excavation.
This 2026 iteration brings together lists from CAST studio holders alongside all previous contributions:
An Endless Supply, Hannah Barry, Nicola Bealing, Vanessa Billy, Lionel Bovier, Katrina Brown, Bronwen Buckeridge, Nathan Cash Davidson, Charlotte Cheetham, Beth Collar, Copeland Book Market, Bobby Dowler, Charlie Duck, Jeff Eaton, Alec Finlay, Mel Francis, Bryony Gillard & Hannah Still, Teresa Gleadowe, M Goldstrom, Christopher P. Green, Oliver Griffin, Anna Harris, Mark Hedger, Ralph Hunter-Menzies, Mark James, James Jenkin, New Jerseyy (Daniel Baumann, Mathis Altmann, Tobias Madison, Emanuel Rossetti, Dan Solbach), Marco Kane Braunschweiler, Jeremy Millar, Fraser Muggeridge, OMMU, Rory Pilgrim, Olivia Plender, Ed Ruscha, Ben Sanderson, Benjamin Sommerhalder, Kirsten Shanks, Jem Southam, Sofia Stevi, Mark Surridge, Viktor Timofeev, Torpedo Press, Layla Tweedie-Cullen, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Axel Wieder
Visitors to the building are welcome to view the lists during CAST's normal opening hours Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm
CAST, 3 Penrose Road, Helston, Cornwall TR13 8TP
Please note: The test-space is located upstairs, accessible via the central staircase (turn right at the top).
Installation views:
