UCL Discovery

Abstract

Again, A Time Machine is a fluid, touring exhibition conceived by Book Works as a way of addressing its own archive of over 25 years of projects and its unique commissioning structure and history. Working in collaboration with Eastside Projects, Birmingham; Motto Berlin; The Showroom, London; Spike Island, Bristol; White Columns, New York; and SPACE London, Book Works has commissioned new work, alongside archival work, published new artists’ books, generated ephemera, and organised a series of events that ranged from exploratory readings and improvised dialogues, to nights of spoken word and provocative ritual. For Make the Living Look Dead, a selection of artists that Book Works has worked with over 30 years were invited to make a new work on A4 paper as a contribution, intervention or fictionalisation for our archive. Each work plays with notions of time, and exposes the fragility of coherence inherent in the archive. Contributions range from original discarded material to found objects or fictionalised letters, as well as new work masquerading as past proposals or future projections of sequels, panegyrics or unfinished work. It is shown alongside a showreel of images drawn from our archive and complied by Karen Di Franco, and a selection of sound recordings complied by James Brook.