Rock & Roll Public Library - In Orbit

ROCK & ROLL PUBLIC LIBRARY
FARSIGHT GALLERY
LONDON
EXTENDED UNTIL SATURDAY MARCH 22ND

Vic Godard

Kirk Lake, one of the Rock & Roll Public Library’s conveners (and Outsideleft short film editor), along with Matt Jones and Mick Jones the collector, kindly, partly, cures my and your curiosity.

Tim London: The first thing that struck me was just how well everything has been looked after. I’m really curious about how items like old newspapers, faxes, notebooks etc that normally fade or crumble have been kept almost pristine.
Kirk Lake: A lot of the material had been stored in random boxes in multiple lock-ups for decades so me and my colleague Matt Jones have spent the best part of 5 years emptying various storage units and getting some order to the collection. I’m guessing that because a lot of the stuff hadn’t been handled for years it was somewhat protected from damage. Maybe like the way somebody can carefully lift out a fossil… 

Tim: Is there a story to how these items have been collected? What are the various ways they came to be in Mick’s possession? I’m imagining a spare, empty suitcase on tour… or boxing up to send via freight?
Kirk: A lot of the items are things Mick has had since the time they appeared. So there’s records and books and comics he bought as they were issued. Some things date back to his childhood others are things he picked up along the way. Of course we’ve got lots of stuff from the early punk era and then the Clash as they grew in popularity. Then BAD etc. Mick kept everything. And he’s always buying new things to add to the archive. It will always be a work in progress.

Mickey

Tim: How did you come to be involved?
Kirk: I met Mick maybe 25 years ago as I was involved in the rare book and comic world. He’d always said one day he’d ask me to help sort the archive and that’s eventually what happened. We now have a small RRPL team that helps put together the magazine and exhibition.

Tim: In an interview Mick said he’d like these items to be available like a literal lending library. That doesn’t sound practical but did you try that out at all? And, if so, were people honest?
Kirk: That was always the plan but we’ve realized its not feasible for the moment. We hope to be able to invite artists and writers in to make work inspired by the collection. And now we have a new, more streamlined, more curated version of the show we really want to take it out on the road to other places. Mick’s aim is to show it and share it and hopefully allow it to inspire other people and spark ideas.

Tim: Has anyone nicked anything yet?
Kirk: No. The people that have come to the exhibition have been really respectful of the things in the show. There are sections designed to be hands on. There are books and mags you can browse, a record listening booth, a TV with various VHS tapes. A lot of the main exhibits and installations aren’t behind glass, or even any kind of barrier, but people have been really cool. I think a certain amount of trust can go a long way.

Tim: There’s almost a love/hate relationship between some creative people and the modern, normally ephemeral consumer goods that are mass produced. Is there a tension between the exploitative nature of things built for a short shelf life and exhibiting them in a way that elevates them (if that’s what it does)?
Kirk: I’m not sure our intention is to elevate them. Of course putting something on a shelf can change the object. But we are showing them as what they are and each visitor relates to them in their own way. Maybe they spark a memory. Some people have become quite emotional.  We were looking for ways to show items both in the context of their time and to also juxtapose some of them with items from different eras that might resonate. The main part of the exhibition is themed around the journey of an imaginary child from youth to teenage rebellion to becoming a fan of pop culture to choosing to make art and forming a band and touring the world. Within that we jump around in terms of time-lines so objects from the 30s might sit next to an item from the 90s. An example is the 1940s piano roll of Strauss waltzes that’s sitting above the Akai sampler that Mick used for the first couple of B.A.D. albums. 

Some people have become quite emotional

Tim: So much plastic! What would be a similar project in 50 year’s time, would you guess? What objects would have the same cultural value and meaning or would they mainly be virtual? Just ideas?
Kirk: I guess in 50 or 100 years there will be a lot of plastic antiques available. I’d hope that people will still be sharing paper items, books, magazines etc There’s numerous problems with virtual or digital archives. Who is to say what is worth scanning in and what isn’t. It’s really important that context is retained and so often people just focus on what seems the most important thing and ignores what’s surrounding it – the adverts, the minor seemingly inconsequential side story. One of my favourite sections of our current show is the local newspaper front pages from the early punk years where Clash fans are smashing up theatres or punks are seen as a major threat. Those news stories and clippings are quite well known but we present the entire page with the key story shown within a window in an acetate so you can also read about what else was happening on that day. Mundane local news or sensational national news stories.

Tim: Will the next part of this project, London Electric, (a name we almost used for our group in the 1980s, incidentally and irrelevantly) involve a physical exhibition again? Are there plans to find a permanent home with access?
Kirk: The first issue of the magazine is a general introduction to the archive and uses the same thematic device as the exhibition. There are some things that are in both the mag and the show but for the most part we have used the exhibition to expand on and complement the mag. Issue 2, London Electric, is more tightly themed and focuses on London. It’ll have a feature and photos of Mick’s pre-Clash band The Delinquents, stuff on growing up in London, lots of images and ephemera out of the archive. A few special contributors. We’re looking to take the exhibition out to other places and the idea is to let it evolve alongside the magazine. The way we have designed it we can make it bigger or smaller depending on the available space.

Rock & Roll Public Library Pt 1 - The Launch
Rock & Roll Public Library Pt 2 - Cruising Altitude
Rock & Roll Public Interview - In Orbit
Rock & Roll Public Library Preview

The Rock & Roll Public Library
Farsight Gallery, 
4 Flitcroft Street, 
London WC2H 8DJ
EXTENDED UNTIL SATURDAY MARCH 22ND
12 noon - 7pm daily
More info at www.rocknrollpl.com