Again, A Time Machine
Opening Friday 23rd November at 7pm
Torpedo books and Kunsthall Oslo are pleased to present the exhibition Again, A Time Machine, curated by Book Works, London.
“Artists are playing with words again – raiding the archive, bringing the dead back to life, making the living look dead. Quicker than the ever-elusive present, they are forging a practice through words, images, books and ephemera, that begins to anticipate the past, forecast possible histories and re-visit alternative futures.”
Established in 1984, Book Works is an art commissioning organisation specialising in artists’ books, spoken word and printed matter, and dedicated to supporting new work by emerging artists. Again, A Time Machine is a touring exhibition engaging with the circuits of practice that have materialised in the form of books, writing, printed matter, language, spoken word, performative research and archival practice – where each new manifestation of the exhibition reinvents itself and reveals new work as the project moves from venue to venue.
For Torpedo and Kunsthall Oslo, works by Dora García, Stewart Home, Jonathan Monk, Laure Prouvost and Slavs and Tatars, are presented alongside Make the Living Look Dead, a fictional archive from a selection of Book Works artists, including Pavel Büchler, Jeremy Deller, Liam Gillick, Karl Holmqvist, Susan Hiller, Elizabeth Price and Mark Titchner. Back/Forward a selection of visual material from the Book Works archive (1984-2011) together with a looped showreel of film and video works compiled by Karen Di Franco, and Rewind an audio compilation from Book Works archive arranged by James Brook, are exhibited in conjunction with artists’ publications and printed matter.
Bringing the Dead to Life
Saturday, 24 November 2012 from 2pm onwards
An afternoon of talks and readings hosted by Book Works and Torpedo
Gavin Everall and Jane Rolo, from Book Works discuss the Again, A Time Machine project, the history of Book Works as a publisher and commissioning organisation, from distribution to archive. The artists’ collective Slavs and Tatars will present Friendship of Nations: Polish Shi’ite Showbiz, their second cycle of work, on the unlikely common heritage of Iran and Poland. Followed by readings and performance from Stewart Home and Katrina Palmer, authors of Blood Rites of the Bourgeoisie and The Dark Object.
This event marks the Oslo book launch for Again, A Time Machine, edited by Gavin Everall and Jane Rolo.
Again, A Time Machine is funded by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts and The Henry Moore Foundation. The Wanderer (The Storage) by Laure Prouvost is commissioned by Book Works, FLAMIN, Spike Island, with the support of the National Trust Treasurer’s House, York and International Project Space. The presentation at Torpedo and Kunsthall Oslo is supported by The Norwegian Arts Council.