Bob Cobbing: Exhibition, Performances and Links

The splendid Text Festival at Bury Art Gallery opened last night. There was some pomp. The Mayor of Bury clanking his chains like Boris Karloff. The organiser, Tony Trehy (a Pages poet) clutching a news item about the festival from that day’s Guardian. Clearly it’s starting to stir an interest. Exploring the overlap between visual art and poetry there are to be various exhibitions lasting throughout 2005. Check it out. Artists involved include Caroline Bergvall, Hester Reeve (last night handwriting Heidegger’s Being and Time, with a smile on her face), cris cheek and Kirsten Lavers (TNWK), Carolyn Thompson, Alan Halsey, Mark Nowak and Geraldine Monk.

Of particular interest to me last night was the Bob Cobbing exhibition curated by Jennifer (Pike) Cobbing and Phil Davenport, the poet in residence at the Festival. Ranging from Bob’s earliest work to latest, including the splendid 300 booklets of Domestic Ambient Noise (a collaboration with Lawrence Upton), there were lots of pieces I hadn’t seen before. I’m looking forward to going back to hear the CDs that will be playing when the exhibition is up and running, and having a long look at it.

Bob and I collaborated on two projects, the second of which Blatent Blather/Virulent Whoops (I know ‘blatant’ is spelt incorrectly), Patricia Farrell and I will be performing at the Gallery as part of the Bob Cobbing celebration on Saturday April 9th. (7.30, £5) The whole text may be read/seen here.

Have a look at the text on Jacket magazine, and read a review from Terrible Work.

Also on that evening: Jennifer Pike will be performing a visual work by Patricia Farrell A Space Completely Filled With Matter; sound works by David Toop; and a performance by Ira Lightman.
Other links. Read also my celebration of Cobbing’s work, written for his 75th birthday. Visit his EPC homepage, the UBU web pages, both of which have sound files attached, and see a visual work wan (in the exhibition) at artpool. Well, I say it’s visual but you have to read it out loud.

Robert Sheppard

More on Cobbing here. And here. And a later event (2015) for which this Bury event was an important precursor here.

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