Two Hundred and Forty-three Postcards in Real Colour.
I delighted that the project has returned to Bower Ashton Library, University of the West of England, Bristol. The opening exhibition is reproduced, with new material about the travels of the postcards. It is a wonderful chance to enjoy the cards close up; the images in the book and on posters were good but the actual cards are even better. Certainly worth a trip to Bristol. The cards will be on show at least until the end of January. The exhibition will then be in Edinburgh at the Institut Français in February 2025.
The postcards or posters have been in eleven exhibitions:
University of the West of England, Bower Ashton Library, Bristol, 2021 & 2024
University of Southampton, Winchester School of Art, 2021
Bath Spa University, The Street Gallery, 2022
Bristol Artists’ Book Fair BABE at Bower Ashton, 2022
Cardiff University, Special Collections Library, 2022 – 2023
Architecture and Design Exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey, 2022
University of Puget Sound, Collins Memorial Library, Washington, USA, 2022
University of Essex, Special Collections Library, Colchester, 2023
Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, Cyprus, 2023
Waverley Library, Sydney, Australia, 2023
British Library symposium, London, 2024
The modular format of the work has meant that it has been reconfigured for each venue, looking fresh each time. The postcards themselves! have sent ‘home’ to UWE a postcard from each of their travels, (an idea suggested by Shaun Oaten of the Bower Ashton library in a very Perec twist) and those cards and others inspired by the project are now also included.
Postcards for Perec. The catalogue of the project has full colour illustrations of every postcard, and a foreword by Philip Terry, editor of The Penguin Book of Oulipo. Essays in English and French by Mireille Ribière explain Perec’s fascinating structure behind the messages. The book is held in the National Art Library, British Library and Newberry Library, Chicago, USA.
ISBN 978-1-906501-21-1. £20 +p&p, available via the contact page.
Cropped images of the postcards and the exhibitions can be enjoyed on Instagram, @postcards_for_perec.
Linda Parr 