Press Release - Venue//Date Announcement

'SUBSTANCE' 

Portsmouth Artists Book Event 2018 at Aspex Portsmouth

Sunday 18^th March 2018 – 10am until 5pm

‘Substance’ is an exciting curated event bringing together multiple artistic disciplines inviting visitors to participate in the process of making and telling 'stories'.

‘Substance’, is a one-day event exploring artist’s books as a multidisciplinary art form, presenting stories, poems and bold statements in an amazing array of forms from the page to performance, installation and sculpture.

‘Substance’ is proudly presented by David G Kirby in association with Aspex Portsmouth.

‘Substance’ is the first national Artist’s Book event to be held in Portsmouth and a first for Aspex.

‘Substance’ features established UK and international artists and students from a broad range of artistic disciplines; writing, poetry, illustration, printmaking, spoken word, performance, sound and sculpture.

‘Substance’ will showcase straightforward 'traditional' printed, bound book arts - handmade low tech 'zines, self publishing poets and writers; spoken word, sound and performance based artists; experimental, sculptural and site specific interactions designed to spark conversations and stories that both challenge and reinforce ideas of what constitutes a 'book'.

The Artist’s Book is a key medium for the exploration of form and function. Distilled down, one idea of a 'book' is a container, a vessel for storing - well, contents... in the hands of artists, the container has become as expressive and meaningful as its contents, creating an astonishing diversity of artefacts and expression – from the conventional, traditional and historical, to more experimental, imaginative and exploratory. The material form of the container has evolved from the tradition of spoken/cultural memory, to sheets of paper, to digital media, to esoteric 'cloud' storage.

The intention is for artists and visitors to engage and interact, to generate narratives through those conversations, and in the course of the event to see, and hear those dialogues transformed and re-presented. Visitors to the event will experience a few of the processes of how narratives and other content can be generated and contained, encapsulated in forms that can be taken away and relived elsewhere.

Event curator, Dave Kirby says “My aim with 'Substance' is to present a slice across the current genre of artists books; to focus on relationships between forms of content - archive/narrative and its [re]presentation/ retrieval. What comes first, the contents or the container? How does one even begin to make a 'book'?

Dave Kirby is a multidisciplinary artist from Southsea. He has been involved with artists books for more than 25 years. A seasoned exhibitor at artists book fairs and events, Dave’s work is held in national and international collections.

For further information please contact Dave Kirby, Portsmouth Artists Book Event artistbooksportsmouth@gmail.com // 

Aspex

www.aspex.org.uk

Aspex recently retained Arts Council England, National Portfolio Organisation status enabling it to continue enriching Portsmouth and the surrounding area's cultural and creative environment. Aspex Visual Arts Trust is delighted that ACE continues to recognise the important work we do. 

Aspex has been supporting emerging artists, exposing the creative process, and engaging new audiences with visual art for 35 years.

Delivering an exciting and varied programme of exhibitions, off-site projects and participation events, the aim is to make the appreciation and creation of art a more inclusive activity.

Aspex has a track record of supporting sensational artists early in their careers. Artists such as Mona Hatoum, Richard Wilson and Susan Collis, all now internationally-acclaimed, received support from Aspex.

Key projects like EMERGENCY, an open submission biennial exhibition, put new work by new artists centre-stage.

Aspex participation programme, recognised by the arts industry as one of the best in the country, provides activities for everyone from toddlers through to pensioners. The work they do with children with Special Educational Needs and Autism has been described as exemplary.