SELF – CONSCIOUS
The exhibition has opened. Here’s a little glimpse of what it looks like.
Viewings every Saturday and Sunday, 1200-1600, until 13 December.
Brent Biennial – Brian Griffiths’ SELF – CONSCIOUS
We’re very excited to announce that, as of tomorrow, 19 September, the library will be open on Saturdays and Sundays, until 13 December, for viewings of Brian Griffiths’ installation, SELF – CONSCIOUS. Visitors may view the installation between 1200 and 1600 on Saturdays and Sundays, or by appointment.
SELF – CONSCIOUS is an artwork by Brian Griffiths at Cricklewood Library. Conceived as a parallel lending library of selected books paired with sculptures. The artwork is on view every Saturday and Sunday 12 – 4 pm, and by appointment.
At time of publication this new community library is not complete. SELF – CONSCIOUS will be installed and wait for the library to open before lending. SELF – CONSCIOUS is on view during this wait.
‘We are told that there is a tall wooden cupboard in Cricklewood Library, standing somewhat incongruous. This holds nine books and nine boxed, and therefore hidden, sculptures.
We are told when loaning one of these books a bespoke sculpture will be loaned for the same period, to be taken home.
We are told that at the end of the loan period, the sculpture and book must be placed back in the box and returned to the tall wooden cupboard, still standing somewhat incongruous.’
We are told that Griffiths has always loved a good story. He believes that stories help us to ennoble ourselves, to fix what was broken in us, and to help us become the people we dreamed of being. Lies that tell a deeper truth.
We are not told that the artist has his own agenda in the story. He may mislead or cover mistakes, to do anything else is not staying in character.
We are not told that Brian is concerned with point of view, experimenting in the persuasions and limits of a first-person narrator.’
“Since graduating from Goldsmiths College in the late 1990’s I have been making sculptures and object installations full of overblown theatricality and pathos.
I like to tell stories however clichéd and timeworn. I want to make art that is staged, always pretending. I value the dramatisation of space, and work to direct audiences both physically and imaginatively. Objects, images and characters become materials to be laid out and persuaded to perform. My approach to visual languages and genres feels like trying on ornate fancy dress – to be enjoyed, and changed frequently.
I think with things, they become vocabulary, a way to start. I am driven by a curiosity in objects and our complex relations with them – how objects come to shape us; how we use them to create meaning, to organize our anxieties and affections, to sublimate our fears and shape our fantasies’.
I make sculpture because it sits in the world with us, like us. For me, self and stuff is always mixed up.”
– Brian Griffiths
Hiring the Library Spaces
We hope you’re having a good summer and enjoying the weather, and particularly the park – how lucky we are to have Gladstone Park to escape to.
Despite all that, we’ve got our Back to School hats on and are thinking about the opening of the library, which, despite nasty Covid-19, draws ever nearer. We’re aiming for September. With that in mind, we’d like to update you on our plans.
The three library spaces (main library space, activity room and meeting room) will all eventually be available for hire, but we’ll be starting with the activity room at the back of the building.
We are working on our health and safety policy which will outline the measures we will take to ensure that staff, volunteers, facilitators and users are safe. This will include cleaning between activities, providing handwashing stations and hand sanitisers, use of PPE and social distancing. We will also be following Brent Libraries’ guidelines on track and trace.
We’d like to hear from you if you have any ideas about using the space for a limited number of people for your activities. You may also want to offer activities via Zoom or even a combination, for example, recording your activity as it takes place. We can support you with using Zoom if you’re not already familiar with it.
The rate will depend on which space you would like to use and the number of participants you expect to have. Please contact Annie if you would like to discuss this. We look forward to hearing from you.
Beat the Social Distancing Blues
It’s early days for us here so far in terms of social distancing and enforced stays at home. Why not take advantage of these museums’ offers of free access to their collections while the crisis is upon us?
- Pinacoteca di Brera – Milano https://pinacotecabrera.org/
- Galleria degli Uffizi – Firenze https://www.uffizi.it/mostre-virtuali
- Musei Vaticani – Roma http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/it/collezioni/catalogo-online.html
- Museo Archeologico – Athens https://www.namuseum.gr/en/collections/
- Prado – Madrid https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-works
- Louvre – Paris https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne
- British Museum – London https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection
- Metropolitan Museum – New York https://artsandculture.google.com/explore
- Hermitage – St Petersburg https://bit.ly/3cJHdnj
- National Gallery of art – Washington https://www.nga.gov/index.html
Donate
We are still taking donations. We are not going to be funded long term by any body, public or otherwise (including the Council). We hope to be self-sufficient, and to earn the money we need to stay open by hiring out our spaces. But we will also be dependent on the generosity and support of our community, which is why we will never stop taking donations.
See ways to donate here.