New Aperture Public Art Project At Library Square
Broadsiding, Part II by Michael Turner & Geoffrey Farmer
For immediate release –May 13, 2010
(Vancouver, British Columbia) – Vancouver Public Library and the City of Vancouver Public Art Program are pleased to announce the installation of the Aperture Project, Broadsiding, Part II by Michael Turner and Geoffrey Farmer.
Broadsiding, Part I features six large-scale banners currently hanging in the rectangular windows in the Promenade of the Central Library. The second set of the installation, Broadsiding, Part II, will be installed on May 20.
Inspired by the Central Library’s architecture and its pastel in-house information brochures – a pre-internet information delivery system – Broadsiding, Part I explores the perception of libraries in today’s world and the relationship between the library’s architectural form and informational content. According to the artists, the texts “behave like aphorisms, poems even, their rhetoric modeled after Roman orators, such as Cicero and Lucretius. Reading them left to right one might get a sense of the building's history, from conception to use.”
Broadsiding, Part II extends this exercise further, selecting texts from Roman statesmen, philosophers, historians and businessmen, arranged for poetic display against a toga-white field. The texts are, for the most part, chosen in relation to the texts in Part I, providing less a history than a philosophical constitution – words to live by. These new texts will on occasion be announced by actors at the beginning or the end of the library’s business day.
Michael Turner is an award-winning author of fiction, criticism and song. His books include Hard Core Logo (1993), The Pornographer's Poem (1999) and 8 x10 (2009). He is the 2009-2010 Ellen and Warren Tallman Simon Fraser University Writer-in-Residence.
Artist Geoffrey Farmer’s work combines poetry, the everyday and social commentary. Recent exhibitions include a survey exhibition at the Musée d’art contemporain in Montréal and a solo exhibition at the Witte de With in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Group exhibitions include the Sydney and Brussels Biennales as well as at the Tate Modern, the ICA Boston and Johnen Gallery in Berlin.
Broadsiding, Part I & II make up the seventh work commissioned for the Aperture Project, presented by the Vancouver Public Art Program in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Broadsiding is a co-production of Every Letter of the Alphabet, a project commissioned by the City of Vancouver through its Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program. The Aperture Project is supported by the Library Square Endowment Fund: a $475,000 endowment created by Vancouver City Council in 1995. For more information on public art at the library, please visit: www.vpl.ca/find/details/public_art_at_vpl
Founded in 1887, Vancouver Public Library is one of Canada's largest library systems dedicated to meeting the lifelong learning, reading, recreation and information needs of the people of Vancouver. Each year, the Library’s 22 branches serve over six million visitors and offer over 2.5 million items, including books, CDs, DVDs, magazines and countless online resources.
For more information, please contact:
(Vancouver, British Columbia) – Vancouver Public Library and the City of Vancouver Public Art Program are pleased to announce the installation of the Aperture Project, Broadsiding, Part II by Michael Turner and Geoffrey Farmer.
Broadsiding, Part I features six large-scale banners currently hanging in the rectangular windows in the Promenade of the Central Library. The second set of the installation, Broadsiding, Part II, will be installed on May 20.
Inspired by the Central Library’s architecture and its pastel in-house information brochures – a pre-internet information delivery system – Broadsiding, Part I explores the perception of libraries in today’s world and the relationship between the library’s architectural form and informational content. According to the artists, the texts “behave like aphorisms, poems even, their rhetoric modeled after Roman orators, such as Cicero and Lucretius. Reading them left to right one might get a sense of the building's history, from conception to use.”
Broadsiding, Part II extends this exercise further, selecting texts from Roman statesmen, philosophers, historians and businessmen, arranged for poetic display against a toga-white field. The texts are, for the most part, chosen in relation to the texts in Part I, providing less a history than a philosophical constitution – words to live by. These new texts will on occasion be announced by actors at the beginning or the end of the library’s business day.
Michael Turner is an award-winning author of fiction, criticism and song. His books include Hard Core Logo (1993), The Pornographer's Poem (1999) and 8 x10 (2009). He is the 2009-2010 Ellen and Warren Tallman Simon Fraser University Writer-in-Residence.
Artist Geoffrey Farmer’s work combines poetry, the everyday and social commentary. Recent exhibitions include a survey exhibition at the Musée d’art contemporain in Montréal and a solo exhibition at the Witte de With in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Group exhibitions include the Sydney and Brussels Biennales as well as at the Tate Modern, the ICA Boston and Johnen Gallery in Berlin.
Broadsiding, Part I & II make up the seventh work commissioned for the Aperture Project, presented by the Vancouver Public Art Program in partnership with Vancouver Public Library. Broadsiding is a co-production of Every Letter of the Alphabet, a project commissioned by the City of Vancouver through its Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program. The Aperture Project is supported by the Library Square Endowment Fund: a $475,000 endowment created by Vancouver City Council in 1995. For more information on public art at the library, please visit: www.vpl.ca/find/details/public_art_at_vpl
Founded in 1887, Vancouver Public Library is one of Canada's largest library systems dedicated to meeting the lifelong learning, reading, recreation and information needs of the people of Vancouver. Each year, the Library’s 22 branches serve over six million visitors and offer over 2.5 million items, including books, CDs, DVDs, magazines and countless online resources.
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For more information, please contact:
Karen Henry, Project Manager
karen.henry@vancouver.ca
NOTE: Digital images of the work available to media upon request.
karen.henry@vancouver.ca
NOTE: Digital images of the work available to media upon request.
