Public Holidays

My proposal for the Yuck 'n Yum Cupar Arts Festival multiples project:

'Public Holidays'

Reading a library book, the first page is usually filled by the ticket. The ticket provides an instant narrative, giving you the dates of previous loans and telling you whether you’re alone in your interests or share them with other past readers. For the Yuck ‘n Yum multiples project I propose a silkscreen print of the library ticket for my favourite book, Maldoror by the Comte de Lautréamont. The Dundee University library’s edition dates from 1946 and I hope to create the artwork by photocopying the original ticket and creating a limited-edition print. This will display a list of the days over the past 60 years that the book has been enjoyed by university students. The finished print can then be put to use, either by cropping and using it as a bookmark or by displaying it as a calendar revealing the dates of these appointed “public holidays”. The object will mark an essentially private experience by entering it into the public space.

I anticipate making these at the DCA print studio where I have recently been trained in screenprinting as part of the Nine Trades project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Chants_de_Maldoror