Richard Wentworth and Victoria Miguel collaborate for new space at SWG3
23 April 2018
A Roomful of Lovers (Glasgow), a collaboration between artist Richard Wentworth and writer Victoria Miguel, is the Galvanizer’s first commissioned work of art. It forms part of SWG3’s programme of commissions and exhibitions for Glasgow International 2018 (20 April until 7 May). The collaboration accompanies exhibitions by Judy Blame, Dmitri Galitzine and Hugo Scott. This remarkably diverse programme is united by the artists’ common use of found materials and subjects, echoing SWG3’s origins and its fifteen year transformation from a collection of disused buildings into a world-class arts venue.For this commissioned collaboration, Wentworth appropriately (and brilliantly) works with chains of steel and Miguel, equally appropriately (and brilliantly), chains of words. The vast open space of the Galvanizers is traversed by over 600 metres of galvanized steel chains, which sag and stretch between its Victorian red brick walls, suspended from clamps anchored to its iron girders.
The title of Miguel’s commissioned book A Volume of Fanatics (Glasgow) is derived from A Roomful of Lovers (Glasgow). It combines Wentworth’s Glossary (first published in Making Do and Getting By in 2015) and Miguel’s 2012 dictionary from My Favourite Words, Phrases, Sentences, and Paragraphs, with a recent list of their words compiled and transformed into a thesaurus, celebrating their love of language and inviting readers to share in their enthusiasm. The book is dedicated to Professors Michael Samuels and Christian Kay, the first two editors of The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, which was created at the University of Glasgow, between 1965 and 2009.
