Anyone who visits England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland hears oral history in the cries of street newspaper vendors. Now they have been collected in a CD called Evening Echoes.
It is really the catalogue from a new exhibition, by artist John Carson and musician Conor Kelly. Carson is well-known for his work American Medley. For this, he visited the sites of famous pop songs with geographical titles ("24 Hours From Tulsa", "By the Time I Get To Phoenix", "Do You Know the Way to San Jose", etc). Then he photographed the gaps between romance and reality.
Evening Echoes continues in the same tradition. In its photos, vendors pitch their wares standing over posters with sensational headlines ("DISCO WAR GOES TO COURT!", "BLOODSTAINED NUN IN MERCY DASH!"). Mixed with laughter, footsteps, buskers, their cries become part of an ongoing urban language. Sometimes it advertises features such as that evening's television. Other calls simply manage to mangle the newspaper's titleAltogether, excellent music by which to sip a cup of tea and imagine yourself cocooned in a British city.
Evening Echoes the CD costs (UK) ten pounds. The show has been seen in Manchester and Cardiff. From 28 April-3 June, it appears at the Centre For Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3JD. Phone (UK)041-332-721; Fax (UK) 041-332-3226. In October it will open at Dublin's Temple Bar and Studio. For any enquiries or to buy a CD -- or to bring the piece to a museum nearer you -- contact Evening Echoes' team on (UK) 71-490-4412.
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