Reference Library

We live in an age of skimming: our eyes scan screens, reading in snippets and following paths dictated by algorithms, which determine what comes next even before we have finished what came before. Reading for pleasure is disappearing, and the book has become something to defend: an object we hold in our hands, inviting us to slow down and pause. A private moment between reader and story, freely chosen.
It is against this backdrop that Reference Library was conceived, as an affirmation of the object, of the act, of what it means to give one’s full attention to something that demands it.
A book preserves memories. It holds within it the person who gave it to us, the place where we first read it, and the version of ourselves that existed at that moment. 
 It moves silently amongst people, almost instinctively, as a quiet way of saying “I’ve been thinking of you”. Given at just the right moment, it carries a surprising weight, prompting us to reach out to someone, to reconsider something, to go somewhere, to start afresh. Few other things in life can do all this.
Reference Library is an exhibition conceived by Apartamento in collaboration with JIL SANDER. It brings together sixty books from around the world, each chosen by someone whose perspective is admirable: writers, designers, artists, architects, filmmakers, thinkers, creators. Together they form a collection of personal references, books that have inspired, obsessed,
and accompanied. Presented together, they become something greater than each individual title: a portrait of curiosity, of influence, of the invisible threads that connect a reader to an idea and an idea to the world.

The exhibition, featuring an installation designed by the Milan-based architecture studio studioutte, takes place at the JIL SANDER showroom in central Milan from 20 to 24 April 2026. Chrome-plated reading lamps are arranged in rows, each illuminated by a warm beam of light for reading, their reflections mirrored back by a mirrored wall. A space designed for the pleasure of observing up close, of moving from one title to another without haste, with nowhere else to be.
Upon registration, with 60 slots available every hour, visitors are invited into the library and given a pair of white gloves. A small ritual that changes the way an object is handled, the care devoted to it. The books are there to be picked up, opened and read. They remain on display, but the gloves stay with the reader: a small, silent reminder of time well spent.
Sixty books. Sixty perspectives. Presented as a collection of open doors. Perhaps one of them will find you at just the right moment. After all, it has always been that way.