Exhibition introduction:
mile of paper
National Museum of Fine Arts
June-July 2008
Curated by ruth bianco
mile of paper consists of 30 bookworks created by artist researchers currently undertaking their MA and MA (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
June 2008
Participating UCA student artists:
Andrew Livesey Hope Fitzgerald
Anthony Foster Jenny Schroeder
Barry Brown Jessica Miller
Christine Oakland Kinnari Sanghavi
Claire Adams Kirsty Quaife
Claire Griffiths Linda Gibson
Claire Smith Maria Papanastasiou
Darshini Shah Megha Nagendra
David Mortlock Miguel Mathus
Elisa Von Brockdorff Patricia Brown
Fon Kittisarakul Suzanne Abraham
Gauri Sharma Zoe Evans
Gillian Metcalfe
Helen Mayer
Participating UCA artist tutors:
Richard Davies
Seyed Edalatapour
Ruth Bianco