Online exhibitions launched
Primary Orbits by David Watkins, 1983, Photo: Heini Schneebeli, 2008
The Crafts Council has launched a new online exhibition programme providing a new perspective on objects held in the Crafts Council Collection; one of the most comprehensive collections of contemporary craft in the UK.
The online programme will consist of two new exhibitions every six months that will explore significant pieces in the Crafts Council Collection.
The programme launches with two exhibitions; Object in Focus: Chain & Red Chain by Christoph Zellweger and A White, a Blue, a Yellow, Red: poetry by Jeremy Reed. These exhibitions will present contemporary craft in a new light. To see the exhibitions visit http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/collection-and-exhibitions/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/
“The new online exhibitions programme will hopefully encourage people to see pieces from the Crafts Council Collection in a new light and will promote debate and dialogue about some of the UK’s finest contemporary craft.”
Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director, Crafts Council
Object in Focus focuses on Christoph Zellweger’s ‘Chain’ and ‘Red Chain’, 1994. A necklace two metres in length and made of oxidised metal parts and yellowed latex, ‘Chain’ was acquired by the Crafts Council in 1995. A similar piece, ‘Red Chain’, was acquired at the same time by the Cleveland Craft Centre, a collection now held at mima in Middlesbrough. Due to their materials both chains are gradually disintegrating. The exhibition will bring the two chains together, first in a virtual sense, and then potentially physically at mima in 2010. Developed in partnership with mima the exhibition will present three viewpoints: that of the maker and his reasoning for the use of fragile materials, that of a conservator specialising in plastics in jewellery; and finally of the curators that were responsible for acquiring the pieces on behalf of the two collections. The exhibition raises tricky questions about the use of ephemeral materials such as rubber in craft and how curators and conservators engage with pieces that are, in the words of Christoph Zellweger, “not intended forever”.
The second exhibition; A White, a Blue, a Yellow, Red will present a new take on the Crafts Council Collection. The poet Jeremy Reed has selected five objects from the collection and responded to them in poetry. Jersey-born Jeremy Reed has been one of Britain’s most dynamic, adventurous and controversial poet and prose stylists since the 1980’s when he first arrived in London. The poems Reed has written use his chosen objects as springboards into a completely different world with a nod to his preoccupations with sci-fi, DNA, fashion and pop. Reed sees a Brands Hatch racing driver in the stoneware ‘Helmet’ by Mo Jupp, a sequence of genes and planets in David Watkins’ ‘Primary Orbits’ and a black steel skyscraper in Edmund de Waal’s ‘Arcady;
The porcelain stash is off-limits
like a high-rise sarcophagous
a dynasty buried in eighteen lots
slotted into a steel skyline
—Ends—
For more information and electronic images of the pieces please contact Jill Read in the Crafts Council Press Office on Tel: +44 (0) 20 7806 2549, Email: media@craftscouncil.org.uk
Notes to Editors
• Jeremy Reed has been at the forefront of British avant-garde poetry for decades. The Independent has called him ‘British poetry’s glam, shape-shifting answer to David Bowie,’ and his poetry, fiction and performances of his work are singular and inimitable in their opposition to mainstream poetry. Since his arrival in London in the 80s, when he was taken up by the artist Francis Bacon, he has published over 40 prize-winning books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. ‘His work has been translated abroad in numerous editions, into more than a dozen languages. Among his biggest fans have been the late J. G. Ballard, Pete Doherty and Björk, who has called his work ‘the most beautiful, outrageously brilliant poetry in the world.’
• The Crafts Council is the national development agency for contemporary crafts. It aims to position the UK as the best place in the world for making, seeing and collecting contemporary craft.
• For further information about the Crafts Council visit www.craftscouncil.org.uk
• The Crafts Council is supported by Arts Council England. Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives. As the national development agency for the arts, it supports a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts. Between 2008 and 2011, Arts Council England will invest £1.3 billion of public money from government and a further £0.3 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.
