Art Metropole

#06081

AN INVOCATION - Five Hundred and Thirty Books from Southend Central Library

Artist

Mike Nelson

Date

2013

Publisher

Focal Point Gallery

Format

Artists' Books

ISBN

978-1907185151

Size

15.5 × 23 × 6.5 cm

Length

1056 

For this permanent commission, Mike Nelson is working directly with the architects and contractors of the new Focal Point Gallery, in order to create a unique artwork housed within a void space between two internal walls of the gallery. Measuring only 0.8m deep by 4.5m long, the space will eventually be inaccessible to staff and visitors.

Using the distinctive furniture, fabrics and materials from the existing Modernist library building, which houses the current Focal Point Gallery, Nelson will construct a display system to house a series of books selected by the artist from the current Southend Central Library catalogue. The project will focus on books earmarked for replacement or removal before the library relocates to the new building, interspersed with key texts that have influenced the artist’s work to date. A publication will be created using the material from the collection to accompany this project. This concealed exhibition and the accompanying artist’s publication will be launched to coincide with the opening of the new Focal Point Gallery in autumn 2013.

Born in Loughborough 1967, Nelson now lives and works in London. He represented Britain at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), and has exhibited at institutions such as Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (2012), Tate Britain, London (2010), ACCA, Melbourne (2006), Turner Contemporary, Margate (2005), Camden Arts Centre, London (1998).