Celebrating Books and Libraries. Curated by Diane Jones-Parry and Annabel Ralphs (Metron).
Books which have reached the end of their shelf life were kindly donated by the Central Oxford Library. They were randomly selected with an emphasis on variety. Pairs of books with contrasting content were wrapped and selected unseen by the participating artists. Each artist was invited to respond to their books in any way they chose with an awareness of the possibilities offered by the O3 exhibition space. The responses have been extraordinary and imaginative; a varied and exciting interpretation of literature through other art forms. Featuring Painting, Sculpture, Animation, Film, Sound and movement performances.
endnotes:unwrapping books will be open for four weeks and will feature performances linked to the exhibition. On the evening of Sunday 5th April at 7pm, MEL (Dominic Lash, David Stent and Chris Stubbs) will perform a concert of improvised music alongside their sound installation “withdrawn from stock”, conceived and produced for the endnotes exhibition. The live performance will be ‘distributed’ across different levels of the gallery space and will last for approximately 40 minutes.
Kate Willis is a movement artist and she has left her two books wrapped in newspaper and string. She will be carrying the parcel of books, exploring different pathways between library and gallery, visiting the original home of the books. Visitors are welcome to follow her if they wish. When she is not present, her books will be stored in a small nook under the gallery stairs. Her first walk will be at 5.45pm starting from the O3 gallery on Friday 27th March, prior to the opening preview. Further dates: 1st April, 8th April, 15th April, 22nd April 2009, all at 12.30pm, starting from the O3 Gallery.
Artists: Marco Betti, Patricia Drew, Alan Franklin, Jim Le Fevre, Joanna Gilmour, Laurence Halstead, Sally Howkins, Diane-Jones Parry, Martha Lewis, MEL (Dominic Lash, David Stent. Chris Stubbs), Fiona Millward, Nichola Nixon, Karen Purple, Annabel Ralphs, Tom Ralphs-Laman, Prue Robinson, Kate Willis.
For further information on individual artists please contact the O3 gallery.