To Infinity and Beyond: Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane Explore ‘The Library of Babel’
“The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite, perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries.”
This evocative opening line from The Library of Babel, a 1941 short story by Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges, sets the stage for a world brimming with mystery. The story, which explores themes of infinite knowledge and existential uncertainty, has inspired composers and musicians Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane in their newest musical collaboration, Hexagons. The duo will perform this work in Ann Arbor on January 23.
Borges, known for his masterful blend of fiction, poetry, essays, and translations, was a pioneer of postmodernism and magical realism. In The Library of Babel, he imagines a library of infinite proportions, structured as an endless maze of hexagonal rooms. Each room holds 120 bookshelves, each with 32 books, and each book consists of 410 pages filled with a random arrangement of letters.
The result? Most books contain nothing but meaningless gibberish. Yet, within the vast expanse of the library, every possible combination of letters is contained, including every meaningful text that could ever be written. The library offers both an overwhelming sense of possibility and an existential question: can we ever truly find meaning in a world flooded with information?
As Borges’ characters grapple with the absurdity of this infinite repository, some spiral into despair, while others remain driven by the hope of discovery.
For Shaw and Kahane, this story’s profound meditation on meaning and the search for understanding resonated deeply.
“Gabe and I both had wanted to make something about this story, and we’ve decided to come together. There’s a mix of songs…and with a viola, and piano, and our voices, and a little bit of electronics, and a loop pedal, we’re constructing a world that doesn’t really tell the story of the Library of Babel, but maybe hints at the colors of the world that Borges constructs.” — Caroline Shaw
“It’s impossible to read the story in the 21st century without seeing the library as a metaphor for the internet age. But I don’t think either of us could have anticipated the extent to which Borges’ animating premise would resonate with our increasingly vexed information landscape.” — Gabriel Kahane
Hexagons marks the duo’s first large-scale collaboration, co-commissioned by UMS and several other presenters across the country. The multi-movement piece invites listeners to explore the intersection of joy, grief, wonder, and the bewilderment that arises from living in a world oversaturated with information.
Join Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane in Rackham Auditorium, Thursday, January 23, and immerse yourself in the existential contemplation of infinity, human knowledge, and the complexities of our digital age.
Before the audience hears Hexagons, Shaw and Kahane will perform some of their previous original compositions, announced from the stage. Both artists have the unique ability to blend diverse musical genres with intellectual depth, creating emotionally resonant works that explore complex themes and engage listeners in thought-provoking ways. Enjoy this sampling of some of our favorites:
