SHAPE THE ECHO is a living library celebrating the legacy of African American science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, running in parallel with American Artist's exhibition The Monophobic Response at Kunsthall Trondheim. More than just a collection of books, SHAPE THE ECHO is an invitation to imagine, connect, and build community through stories that speak to survival, transformation, resistance, and hope.
The collection features 100 titles by Black, diasporic, and Global South writers who, like Butler, explore not only the world as it is, but the futures we dare to dream. These books are not static objects; they are living resources. To bring the library to life, we host public events open to all ages—intergenerational spaces of learning and creativity. These activities include the Earthseed Book Club, in-situ performances, school group visits, and workshops that invite local residents to envision Trondheim in the year 2055. These visions will be collected into a bound chapbook “time capsule" that will join the collection. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need to have read Butler’s work to participate; only bring curiosity, openness, and a willingness to dream.
SHAPE THE ECHO is about the power of imagination to shape who we are and where we are going, together. This library connects literature with lived community experience. Octavia E. Butler’s writing emphasized adaptability, transformation, and change, and through these stories, we explore how to live with change, resist oppression, and imagine beyond limitations. Butler's writings have also been central in shaping American Artist's practice and their exhibition at Kunsthall Trondheim, which runs in parallel to SHAPE THE ECHO. A central guide and inspiration for both is Octavia Butler's Earthseed series, comprising the twin novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Written in the early 1990s, but set in 2024-2090, these novels follow Lauren Olamina as she develops the Earthseed philosophy while navigating societal collapse. The books have proved remarkably prophetic, establishing Butler as both a visionary author and an astute observer of how greed and the misuse of power shape our world.
After October 12, 2025, SHAPE THE ECHO will move into the Trondheim Public Library’s main branch (Trondheim Folkbiblioteket), where everyone can continue to borrow, read, and learn from Octavia E. Butler’s legacy. By moving into this new permanent home, the collection becomes part of Trondheim’s shared cultural life; a resource that is carried forward by anyone who enters as Trondheim grows and changes.
Stories shape memory, and memory shapes futures. To read these works is to join a global chorus of voices that dare to imagine otherwise. To gather around them is to build a community rooted not just in survival, but in vision. Together, we are not just reading stories—we are shaping echoes of the future.
Download the complete bibliography here: Shape the Echo Bibliography
SHAPE THE ECHO is curated by Tendai Angela Jambga-Rokkones with input from American Artist and Adam Kleinman.
Huge thanks and appreciation to Ronja Svenning Berge and Aslak Eide Bø at the Trondheim Public Library for their support and collaboration.