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M I L E O F P A P E R

A bookart groupshow curated by ruth bianco 2008

A groupshow of bookworks created in the context of the ongoing projects by artist researchers undertaking their MA Fine Art during 2008 at the University for the Creative Arts, Kent, UK. This installation of squeeze books - inspired from the Duchampian gallery intervention called Mile of String of 1942 in New York - meandered through the existing painting galleries of the National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta, Malta.

EXHIBITION TEXT

National Museum of Fine Arts

June-July 2008

mile of paper consists of 30 bookworks created by artist researchers currently undertaking their MA and MFA (International Practice) studies in Fine Art at the University for the Creative Arts, Kent, UK. These works are special in that each bookwork is conceptualised within the ongoing artistic research of these students' individual master projects. This however, has been used as a departure and each artist was free to respond and transform the ready structure of an eighteen foot long concertina sketchbook. Rather than being mere vehicles for information therefore, these bookworks are visual metaphors merging container and content.

The exhibition title, Mile of Paper, was triggered from the Duchampian work Mile of String presented in a New York painting gallery in 1942. The collection of bookworks you see here were packed in a suitcase and flown over to Malta from the UK, to unfold into an installation of space and connections throughout the floors of the museum galleries. Indeed, the project was conceived within the context of the transportable, mobile squeeze book, flexible, small, yet gem-like. And what you see here are gems. Gems that are precious and intriguing, each bearing personal stories contemplated in thoughtful journeys of enquiry.

RUTH BIANCO

Project Curator

June 2008

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Andrew Livesey

Anthony Foster

Barry Brown

Christine Oakland

Claire Adams

Claire Griffiths

Claire Smith

Darshini Shah