Our Story

The Minneapolis Art Lending Library (MALL) was conceived by artists Mac Balentine, Julia Caston and Larsen Husby as a new way to bring art into the lives of community members. The MALL had its first opening in June 2013 at the Ledge Gallery, a domestic exhibition space housed in the dining room of a south Minneapolis apartment.

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The MALL in its original home at the Ledge Gallery

Art lending libraries are not a new invention. Historically, many public libraries, art societies, and museums across the country would lend out art reproductions and multiples to their patrons, including the Hennepin County Library system here in Minnesota. While there are only a handful of art lending libraries in operation in the US today, there are a large number of such institutions across Europe. In France, a system of artothèques, united under the organization ADRA, has locations in most corners of the country. The MALL, and its modular shelving system, was directly inspired by a visit to the Neue Berliner Kunstverein in Berlin, an art center which operates the largest artothek in Germany.