This blog follows my placement with Research & Cultural Collections at the University of Birmingham in January 2014, where I will undertake a range of collections management projects to further develop my skills in research, cataloguing, exhibition and preventive conservation.

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Final week: Eduardo Paolozzi

It’s hard to believe that I’m already nearing the end of my placement – with so many diverse and interesting projects and collections to study, the weeks have certainly flown by.

Today I assisted Clare Marlow (Research & Cultural Collections) with the packing and re-installation of a series of prints by Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005), an artist with very strong ties to the University of Birmingham. Fascinated by technology, science and pop culture, Paolozzi was a prolific sculptor, printmaker, collector and teacher throughout his life. In 1996, Paolozzi became an Honorary Graduate and gave the University several series of prints and his final large-scale sculpture Faraday (2000), now an icon of the University campus.

Eduardo Paolozzi Faraday (2000). Image source: http://mimsy.bham.ac.uk/detail.php?type=related&kv=113453&t=objects
Moonstrips Empire News (1967) is a series of one hundred colourful screenprints consisting of random texts and images installed at the entrance to the Law Library. They create a warm and inviting space – a Pop Art explosion covering the walls, staircases and even the ceiling! Several works were de-installed to be documented and professionally photographed by Patrick Dandy in the studio at RCC. I carefully re-packed the works so they could be safely transported back to the Law Library. I was curious to see how re-installation would be managed with such an unusual arrangement – but it was nothing that a step-ladder and a tin of paint for touch-ups couldn’t fix!


Patrick Dandy photographing a Paolozzi print. (Photograph by Jenny Lance)

Eduardo Paolozzi, Moonstrips Empire News (1967). (Photograph by Jenny Lance)


Packing the Paolozzi prints. (Photographs by Jenny Lance)
Re-installation in the Law Library

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