Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections Spotlight Foyer Display: Constructing a narrative – an account of collected artefacts, the written word, existing and developing histories

Artists Gary James Williams and Jo Manby have taken a selection of objects from Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections and placed them alongside quatrains from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in a new display work, Constructing a narrative – an account of collected artefacts, the written word, existing and developing histories, on show in the ground floor foyer of the All Saints Library at Manchester Metropolitan University All Saints Building on Oxford Road, Manchester until 22 June 2018.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is a collection of hedonistic and subversive poems said to number over a thousand, attributed to the Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyám (1048-1131).

Constructing a narrative acts as a temporary micro-archive within a creative institution. Objects have a multitude of possible ‘other lives’, just as we as people do. Set them in another context, and they will mean a whole range of different things to different viewers. Associating the objects with extracts from another, text-based item (The Rubáiyát) gives them a new set of connections, changing the way we think about these objects.

Constructing a narrative, as an artistic intervention into Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections, invites the viewer to consider the distinction between curating and creation of an artwork. Questions are raised concerning the value of imagined histories. Is a fictional re-contextualisation of historic artefacts justified? What is the role of the artist-curator in expanding the horizons of creative possibility?

Until 22 June 2018 Opening hours: Mon – Fri 10.00 – 16.00

Sat 12.00 – 16.00 (term time only)

Image ©Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections

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