Preston

My talk in Preston was amazingly well attended, about fifty people in total, most of whom drove in from neighboring cities and towns, some as far away as two hours. They put my diligence to shame - I rarely make it out to events in Oakville or Mississauga, which are only twenty-five minutes away. The talk was hosted at Pad Gallery, at the invitation of Pest Publications and sponsored by Castlefield Gallery in Manchester, one of the oldest artist-run venues in the country. They seem to have some pretty interesting programming, including a recent exhibition by Cory Arcangel called A couple thousand short films about Glenn Gould. The director Kwong Lee told me about a Spanish artist that they are working with named Manuel Saiz who is working on a project not dissimilar to my Glenfiddich piece. He is announcing an exhibition to be held in sixty years time, which the gallery is contractually obligated to host.

I was hoping that Michael Corris would be there, but he ended up having other commitments. He wrote me a few weeks prior, saying he was planning on attending, and inviting me to participate in a project he's organizing in Texas in November '09. Corris is a writer and artist, and was a prominent member of Art & Language. He also started the influential artist publication The Fox. Would've been nice to meet up.

After the talk we went out for a fast drink and then a late dinner at an Indian restaurant. I was particularly grateful for the latter, given my steady diet here of pasta and pot noodles.