David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.

06 March 2014

MATERIAL No. 4 published today ($3)

West Space announcement :

MATERIAL

16TH JAN 2014 – 18TH DEC 2014 · WEST SPACE ·

In 1998 in Sydney, John Nixon published a weekly one page magazine MATERIAL, commissioning 50 artists to create unique artworks to be placed centrally on an A4 page. Produced on pink photocopy paper in editions of 100, MATERIAL offered a snapshot of artistic activity at the time.

Some of the artists who participated in this first series include Rose Nolan, Mike Parr, Hany Armanious, Howard Arkley, Aleks Danko, Mikala Dwyer, Kathy Temin, Nike Savvas and DAMP.

MATERIAL operated as a lo-fi limited edition print run retailing at $2 each. This project evolved out of a previous one page magazine project John Nixon published in 1981 called ‘Pneumatic Drill’.

In 2014 West Space will publish a new fortnightly edition of MATERIAL using similar parameters as the first edition. This will be available from the West Space reading room from 30 January 2014. We’ve adapted the original masthead design with updated details, and will sell them in an edition of 100 for $3 each. (inflation over 16 years! – still cheaper than a cup of coffee).

If you would like to reserve a full 2014 set of 25 pages, contact WEST SPACE via email.

MATERIAL is co-edited by John Nixon and Danny Lacy.

MATERIAL No. 4 by Peter Tyndall will be launched tonight. Peter is the first artist to be represented across both the 1998 and 2014 series.