Would You Like To See Your ‘NAME IN LIGHTS’?
Conceptual Artist Joshua Sofaer has continued to provoke thought among his peers and public with the unveiling of his latest project, Name in Lights. Sofaer, most recently noted for his 2005 Tate Scavengers exhibition, is calling among the public to stake their claim in popular culture by submitting, in 150 words, their case for why their, or someone else’s name should become a contemporary art installation. The winning entry will have their name displayed as a piece of art, in illuminated 12ft high letters, on the top of Birmingham Central Library.
The move comprises part of the annual Fierce! Festival and the artwork will simultaneously celebrate and critique the human desire for role-models. By doing so, Sofaer draws to the forefront our fascination with celebrity and fame, and presents to us a set of juxta-posed ideas that will surely polarise opinion.
Hopefuls will register their interest by post, email, phone or online from at www.notcelebrity.co.uk and the national competition will close 17th April. In an attempt to widen the thought process, candidates can submit the name of anyone, dead or alive, if they deem it worthy. Says Sofaer, “We really want people to think about what celebrity and the whole fame-game means to them. How the person next door becomes a celebrity really fascinates me, and it’s this process of celebrity that we seek to question.”
Judges have been cherry-picked from a broad range of media and showbiz and include broadcaster Mark Lawson, celeb agent Jonathan Shalit, cultural commentator Stephen Bayley, advertising mogul Trevor Beattie, and This Morning showbiz reporter Alison Hammond.
Sofaer will then create the name of the winner in large scale letters to beam out across the city for 3 weeks from May 18th, contrasting the nostalgic device of illuminated light bulbs with the urban landscape of the city.
The installation has a wider, community based appeal to it. A series of artist-led workshops in schools and across the Birmingham Library network will seek to stimulate local based entries into Name in Lights. Similarly, a series of seminars in April and May will attempt to reflect on our appreciation of celebrity and its pitfalls, and our own relationship with the notion of fame.
Sofaer also has plans to collate his learnings in the form of a publication that draws together responses to the project from press and online forums Joshua. Sofaer is currently Senior Research Fellow at ResCen, the Centre for Research into Creation in the Performing Arts.
Name in Lights is commissioned by Fierce! Festival in partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome.
+ Permalink