Poetry Pioneers: 35 Years is a retrospective of Spoken Word, charting the history of UK spoken word over four decades as a celebration of the Apples and Snakes archive in its birthday year.
ARC is the first venue to host the exhibition before it tours the country and can be seen between Monday 15 January until Monday 12 February.
Guest curators including John Hegley, Benjamin Zephaniah, Inua Ellams, Roger McGough, Hollie McNish, and Cerys Matthews have selected exhibits with personal resonance, and have chosen artists that have influenced their work. Poetry Pioneers: 35 Years showcases memorable performances to inspire the poetry of the future.
Exhibits will include flyers from early gigs dating back to the early 1980s – many in support of political causes such as support for the Miner’s Strike; audio recordings from legendary dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson’s early career; a video booth, and listening posts.
The exhibition offers a chance to experience moments from four decades of the art form, through promotional material, audio and video performances, and interviews that characterise political and personal moments between 1982 and 2013.
As the leading organisation for performance poetry in the country, Apples and Snakes has a national reputation for producing exciting, engaging and transformative work in performance and participation.
Image © Gavin Evans