Keep Me Posted

MEDIA RELEASE COURTESY: Create London

KEEP ME POSTED is the inaugural exhibition of the soon to open ‘POSTED’ - a temporary exhibition space in a former post office in East London, which is directed and curated by Julia Royse.

This show launches 67 Wilton Way, Hackney, E8, as a platform for a series of art exhibitions, performances, screenings and workshops celebrating the ‘post’ and exploring our postal heritage. ‘POSTED’ is one of a series of projects funded by Hackney Council as part of its programme of support for town centres.

The GPO (General Post Office) used to be a powerful and important institution in Britain and, with postmen delivering mail up to 8 times a day, it was relied upon to make same day appointments as well as communicating the usual news and views. In 1902 the postcard appeared and was hugely popular as a quick and cheap method of sending announcements and thoughts and coined the phrase ‘I’ll be post carding you’.

Today there are many artists who use postcards, stamps, stationary and letters in their work as well as those that use the postal service as part of the creative process by either writing letters, or sending artworks by mail.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post”. We still enjoy poring over old letters examining the style and idiosyncrasies of handwriting and the choice of stationary however today we are less inclined to communicate through letters and cards. As texts and email are currently the most popular means of communication and many schools now use computers instead of pen and paper, one wonders what will happen to our handwriting skills over the forthcoming decades and there must be many young people today who have never experienced communication by post.

The exhibitions presented at POSTED will hopefully inspire people to put pen to paper again as well as reminding us of a time when communication was more personal and less generic.

KEEP ME POSTED will be an exhibition of newly commissioned and loaned artwork, in a variety of disciplines, by established and emerging artists including Andreas Blank, Claire Brewster, Jo Broughton, Oliver Clegg, Julie Cockburn, Adam Dix, Sean Dower, Tracey Emin, Angus Fairhurst, Tom Gidley, Cate Halpin, Susie Hamilton, Rachel Howard, Duncan MacAskill, Polly Morgan, Harland Miller, Julia Riddiough, Liisa Roberts, Jane Simpson, James White, Rachel Whiteread and Miyo Yoshida.

KEEP ME POSTED is one of the events in CREATE10, the multi-arts festival sponsored by Deutsche Bank, which differentiates itself by celebrating the wealth of home-grown artistic talent, cultural institutions and iconic arts venues that thrive in the five host boroughs of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

KEEP ME POSTED
67,Wilton Way, Hackney, London E8 1BG
2 July – 26 September 2010