PAGES

Pages will be an exhibition of work curated by Nici Oxley and Rosemarie McGoldrick and originating from the Women’s Library in Whitechapel from October 2007 to March 2008. The principle is to exhibit an anthology of collected work from women practitioners of the highest calibre in the widest variety of disciplines. On invitation, practitioners respond to a set of agreed instructions. The collected responses form the basis of an archive which is then to be interpreted and displayed in the library and associated galleries. The agreed instructions are to relate to the principles behind the Women’s Library itself – the archiving, retrieval and dissemination of women’s knowledge and achievements. The Women’s Library can also provide the locus for this collected body of work – its own archives, methodologies and information can be a springboard for practitioners’ responses. The exhibition Pages has a great ambition. As a large exhibition with many platforms in different venues, Pages will provide the first opportunity in a generation for women to record and proclaim, in highly visible public arena in a world city, the influence of other women as tutors, guides, exemplars and seers. Pages is to have four major channels of expression. An exhibition of written work at the library, presented in large folios and in wall turners. An extensive series of screenings, sound pieces, readings, recitals and performances. A major conference on the issues that arise out of the archive of women’s work, with seminars, and question and answer sessions. A large exhibition of 2D and 3D artwork. The curators wish is that the venues for these shows are in the same vicinity for purposes of focus and identity.