The Polar Tombola: Exhibition

A word donated to The Polar Tombola by poet Saradha Soobrayen

If you had to lose a word from your language, what would it be?

Endangered languages and censorship are the themes of an exhibition opening on 4 September 2017 at UWE Library,  Bower Ashton, Bristol. On display is the archive of The Polar Tombola, a participatory live lit / art project with which I have toured the UK over the last two years. I've been discussing language loss with artists, writers, librarians, curators, scientists and many others, and collecting the words these individuals feel they could - or should - live without. The exhibition includes all 300+ words donated to the archive, together with texts commissioned from leading contemporary writers for the accompanying anthology A Book of Banished Words. Visitors will also be able to see the original installation, including the 'tombola' and the Greenlandic-English dictionary that inspired the project.

Special Offer! The Polar Tombola: A Book of Banished Words is available post-free within the UK for the duration of the exhibition.

The Polar Tombola runs until 31 October 2017 at Bower Ashton Library, Kennel Lodge Road, Bristol, BS3 2JT. More details here.

For a full account to the project, look out for an article on The Polar Tombola in the forthcoming issue of The Blue Notebook Journal for Artists' Books.

The Polar Tombola exhibition, publication and tour were made possible with the generous support of Arts Council England Grants for the Arts.

Events

I'll be performing or exhibiting my work at these events over the next few months. Further information on times, venues and booking can be found on my website. 

This year's World Book Night United Artists project takes place over 10-12 March in Loch Ness. Watch this space to see whether we spot the Monster!

Bristol Artists Book Event 2015

I'll be showing my books at BABE on 11 and 12 April. Not so much a book fair as a big book party, previous events have seen a dress made of lettuce, a team of cake-laden 'trolley dollies' and even a rogue trader.

Check the Arnolfini website for a full listing of the many exciting things on show during the weekend, which includes the chance to see work by Mike Nicholson and Mette-Sophie D. Ambeck, Old Bear Press and seekers of lice, together with many other artists and publishers, as well as the exhibition Book Acts by AM Bruno... and if you can't decide where to start, you can join one of the free tours.

As in previous years, free surgeries will be held in the Reading Room. Bring your book arts conundrums - don't be shy, nothing is too delicate - for a 20-minute discussion on Saturday (with me) and Sunday (with Simon Goode, founder of LCBA). Pre-booking essential.

And don't miss the performances in the Reading Room! These will run all day on both days. If you come along on Sunday at 3.30pm, you'll find me presenting a new work with the BSL poet Donna Williams. (With thanks to the Arts Council for funding this commission.)

Read an interview with Tom Sowden and Sarah Bodman about the book fair here.

On the road again

Cover of Vantar / Missing

London
I'll be performing poems from my forthcoming collection on the Arctic as part of Trapped in the Ice, Frozen in Time at the British Library on Thursday 5 February. The evening is programmed as part of the library's acclaimed exhibition Lines in the Ice, which examines the role of the Arctic in the making of the modern world (runs until 19 April). It will be hosted by the Library's redoubtable Interactive Fiction Writer in Residence Rob Sherman, and also features readings by the wonderful JR Carpenter and Kate Pullinger.

Oxford
It's the final meeting of Arctic Book Club on Monday 9 February. It's been a wild whistlestop midwinter tour of Arctic literature, and my deep thanks go to Dennis Harrison of the Albion Beatnik bookshop for providing such a cool venue, and to the Arts Council for generously supporting the programme. Thanks also, of course, to all our readers, including those who read the books long-distance from as far away as New York and Norway. Follow @ArcticBookClub on Twitter to keep up with plans for next winter's programme.

Reykjavik
In March I travel to Iceland where I'll be reading at Dynamics of Darkness in the North, a conference at the Nordic House which runs from 26 to 28 February. This promises to be a fascinating event, perversely celebrating the United Nations designation of 2015 as 'International Year of Light'.

Siglufjörður
Also in Iceland, my recent work Vantar | Missing is exhibited at Herhusið, open on Saturdays in March. This will be accompanied by Síður í Siglufjörður | Pages in Siglufjörður, a selection of artists' books on the theme of coastlines chosen by Sarah Bodman.

Bristol and Bedford
Back in the UK I'll be exhibiting my books at Bristol Artists Book Event on 11 and 12 April (look out for the premiere of my new Arts Council-funded collaboration with BSL poet Donna Williams on 12 April in the Reading Room). Later in the month I'm looking forward to being guest reader at Ouse Muse in Bedford on 22 April. 

Hallowe'en Editions

Alchemy (2006) Letterpress by Roni Gross

As Hallowe'en approaches a reminder that these are the last few days to catch They Cast No Shadows: Hallowe'en Works from Zitouna Press over 25 years at The Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE, Bristol. The exhibition - which showcases printed multiples made annually for Hallowe'en by New York artist Roni Gross - runs until 31 October. 

Further details about the exhibition including my catalogue essay are available online here.

Spring! New Events & Exhibitions

Preparations continue for my solo exhibition of new work in Oxford in May… meanwhile some past projects will be on show in a number of group exhibitions during the spring.

If you are in Moscow, my work can be seen in Artists’ Books in the UK and Russia in the State Historical, Architectural, Art& Landscape Museum-Reserve Tsaritsyno between 13 March and 18 May.

In Bristol, one of my first and favourite works, After Light (made in 2008 in collaboration with photographer Paula Naughton) can be seen in a celebration of the artists books collective AM Bruno in AM Bruno 2008-2014, Tom Trusky Exhibition Cases Centre forFine Print Research, between 3 March and 14 April.

In New York, my poems will be on show in The Night Hunter and Tikilluarit, two books conceived by the remarkable printer Roni Gross, exhibited at The Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair on 5 and 6 April. Look out for the Z'roah Press stand.

Taking a little bit of Denmark to Minnesota, my book Doverodde will appear in Fluxjob, an exhibition at the MCBA Star Tribune Foundation Gallery, from 7 February to 6 March. Being a great admirer of John Cage I wish I could get over to Minnesota to see the related show, Cage, on the role of musicians and composers in the Fluxus movement.

Spring has also seen a few poets emerging to read. Last Friday I had a wonderful evening reading with Grażyna Wojcieszko and Sarah Luczaj at The Albion Beatnik Bookshop in Oxford, and on Thursday 13 March I'll be reading with the fine poet Laressa Dickey (also published by MIEL editions) at Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham as part of the city's  States of Independence Festival.

I See You Everywhere

I am curating two exhibitions to celebrate 25 years of limited editions issued by Zitouna, an imprint run by the artist Roni Gross in New York. Since 1989 Zitouna has produced a limited edition object for Valentine's Day and Hallowe'en every year. The Zitouna projects divide themselves between the themes of love and death, whether it be the mating of toothbrushes or the alchemy of a person's life. For an advance preview of some of the works on show, click here.

The first exhibition, I See You Everywhere: Works From Zitouna Press Over 25 Years, will show at the Arnolfini Reading Room in Bristol from 1 February until 2 March 2014. This will present a survey of works made for Valentine's Day.

The second exhibition, They Cast No Shadows: Works From Zitouna Press Over 25 Years, comprising the Hallowe'en editions, will show at the Special Collections of the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England during October 2014.

Some Small Good Things: World Book Night 2013

On Tuesday 23rd April the annual world book night collaboration began. Since 2010 I have been celebrating world book night with Sarah Bodman and fellow book artists, including Angie Butler and Natalie McGrorty. The events have seen new books generated from novels by Patricia Highsmith, Douglas Coupland and Donna Tartt. This year, the chosen text by Raymond Carver was more minimal in two senses - firstly, it was short story rather than a novel, and secondly, as the title itself suggests, it concerns A Small Good Thing.

This year, hot on the heels of organising Bristol Artists' Book Event, Sarah Bodman co-ordinated the event and dinner, with a collaborative text that contained contributions of small, good things from book artists around the world. A film was produced (in homage to Robert Altman's Short Cuts - itself inspired by Carver's stories). The film and full details of the project can be viewed on the UWE bookarts website, where there is also a free, downloadable version of the texts. These can be printed at home to create a zine, and there's even a blank page provided to fill in with a small, good thing of your own to make the book unique. 

Bristol Artists Book Event

BABE, Britain’s most popular book arts event, is back at Arnolfini. As well as the opportunity to see new publications by book artists from around the world, lots of exciting events are planned.

Simon Goode (Founder of LCBA) and I will be be holding surgeries for book artists in the Arnolfini Reading Room. These are an opportunity for artists to discuss and receive advice on any aspect of a book related project be it conceptual, technical or otherwise. Free, but booking essential. More details here.

Nowhereisland comes to Bristol

I will perform a new text commissioned by Tertulia and Spike Island Associates in Bristol on 7th September in response to Nowhereisland. The artist Alex Hartley’s project for the Cultural Olympiad has been described by Situations as ‘a work of land art for our time … above all sculptural – a provocative act of material displacement by a visual artist.’ My new work Dr Freezelove on Ice will consider Hartley’s ephemeral utopian project in the light of the work of climate scientists extracting ice cores from Svalbard glaciers and US military interventions at the North Pole.

Tertulia is a regular event for people working with or interested in language, writing and dialogue across disciplines, founded by Phil Owen and Megan Wakefield.