#market gallery

Art Lending Library

A Project by Market Gallery and Walker & Bromwich

Procession of artworks: Saturday 16 May, 12 noon in Sunderland.

Join Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich and the Art Lending Library Librarians and Art Handlers for a public procession of artworks through the city of Sunderland this Saturday 16 May from 12 noon. Easington Colliery Brass Band will also accompany the parade, which will begin on High Street West (near Marks & Spencer’s) and end at NGCA with a drinks reception and a chance to look at and borrow the artworks.

The Art Lending Library is an evolving social sculpture, which houses over 50 international contemporary works of art that be borrowed and enjoyed in your own home. The project aims to reinterpret the way in which contemporary art is considered, accessed and experienced by all sectors of society. Initially commissioned for Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012, the Art Lending Library is touring the UK and is currently in the City Library, Sunderland.

Artists Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich worked with Market Gallery Glasgow to devise and design the Art Lending Library. The structure’s modular design enables a constantly changing sculptural form that maps borrowing. As people borrow or return an artwork they will also physically shape the library becoming a part of an on-going social sculpture. The Art Lending Library is made possible through the generosity of participating artists in gifting their works to the project.

The Art Lending Library arrives in each new location with a celebratory public procession through the civic centre. The procession invites people to become a part of an egalitarian project that stands in resistance to the tide of narrowing access to the arts and the closure of public libraries and opens up possibilities around the ways in which art can be experienced.

Join the artist and librarians for the Art Lending Library Procession on Saturday 16 May 2015, 12 noon starting from High Street West, finishing at NGCA, and be a part of this celebratory event.

The Art Lending Library is currently located in the entrance to Sunderland City Library. To join the library and borrow a work, please speak to one of the Art Lending Library librarians when visiting.

A specially commissioned film documenting the UK Tour of The Art Lending Library as it progresses across the country can be seen in the NGCA Project Space, and captures the scale, infrastructure and personal interactions that are a part of this project; filmed and edited by Arto Polus.