East Pallant House, 1 East Pallant, Chichester PO19 1TY
Tel: 01243 534679 Email: [email protected]
Date of Release: 18 May 2015
Ref: 3522
The Novium Museum in Chichester wins public vote to
work with award-winning artist
Thousands of people have backed The Novium Museum in Chichester and helped it
come top in a national public vote to work with an acclaimed artist.
The Novium Museum beat Hackney Museum, Compton Verney, the Museum of
Oxford and Towcester Museum to become the winning venue for Culture 24’s
national Connect! Museums at Night competition. The prize will bring award winning
artist Yinka Shonibare MBE to Chichester to lead an event at the museum as part of
the next Museums at Night festival in October.
Shonibare will work with The Novium Museum to create Inventive Factory art spaces
throughout the museum inspired by local inventor Colin Pullinger, whose own
Inventive Factory was based in Selsey.
The mini-festival of creative arts will explore Shonibare’s favourite theme of identity.
It will be a collaborative event reaching out across the local community involving
students, artists and community groups to create an Alternative Museum collection.
“We are delighted to have won and would like to thank everyone who voted for us,
we have been overwhelmed by the support from the local community,” says Cathy
Hakes, Museum Manager. “It is such an honour to have been hand-picked by
Shonibare as a venue he would like to work with, and winning the vote gives us a
really exciting opportunity to bring something a little different to The Novium
Museum.”
Shonibare’s work explores issues of race and class through a variety of different
media and has been exhibited at many prestigious venues across the globe. He is
most known for his trademark bright ‘African’ batik material which he uses to
question the meaning of cultural and national definitions.
A Turner prize nominee in 2004, ‘Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle’ became his first public art
commission on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in 2010.
“We are looking forward to getting started on our project with Shonibare, and to host
an exciting event which will involve and engage the local community,” adds Cathy.
ENDS
For further information, please contact Clare Hawkin,
Public Relations Officer, on 01243 534679