Stories Noted In Between the Creamy Pages
By Jo Phillips
Do you love a notebook? some of us still carry them around, not just for meetings or note-taking at work, but for very personal words, drawings or even doodles that remind us of our everyday moments or to store for future days. We may hold on to these books and have years of ‘moments’ stored within the creamy rich pages.
Image on left Joana Vasconcelos
If this piques your interest then you may well be excited by the idea of the Moleskine Foundation Collection: Moleskine Detour 2.0 Exhibition- London Edition at The Saatchi Gallery, an exceptional gathering of more than 1,500 artworks created on iconic Moleskine notebooks.
Created by a selection of invited cultural leaders, artists, architects, film directors, graphic designers, activists, change-makers, musicians, illustrators, and writers of international acclaim, donated to the Moleskine Foundation in support of its mission of Creativity for Social Change.
The experiential exhibition lands at London’s renowned Saatchi Gallery this autumn, following enthusiastic and successful receptions in Shanghai, Paris and New York. Launched to the public on September 2nd and runs to 15th, at Saatchi Gallery in London.
This exhibition includes over 100 artists’ notebooks from the Moleskine Foundation Permanent Collection in addition to new 2023 London pieces.
This exhibition asks the question,
“Can creativity change the world?”
The exhibition is divided into five themes: Metamorphosis, Memory, Borders, and Imagination, with each notebook telling a different story, dream project, or distinctive way of being and relating to the world, showcasing how creativity can be a transformative force, on a personal and community level.
Aida Muluneh
Diverse works from such creatives as five Sudanese artists and activists, including Khalid Albaih, Amna Elhassan, Azme Mohammed Alameen Youssef, Reem Aljeally, and Dahlia Abdelilah, who have created five different notebooks under the theme “Leaving Khartoum: Notes from Afar” to sensitize and bring the world’s attention to what is currently happening in Sudan.
Francis Kéré
South African multimedia artist William Kentridge gathered scraps from his studio to create “I am Still a Parable,” a book of thinking aloud and testing the relationship between images and text.
William Kentridge
Pentagram designer Giorgia Lupi’s painstakingly stitched threads represent each day of her life in the pages of her notebook in her “Book of Life.” The result is a visual archive of her memories, from achievements to health scares, and each event that constitutes her identity.
Something that makes this show that little bit more emotive is that besides the bespoke artworks in and of itself, there is the interactive connectivity which visitors are invited and encouraged to share and experience, through the explorative touch of the artworks with their own hands.
Visitors will be supplied cotton preservation gloves to further engage, feel and connect with the intricate artwork: they can turn the pages of the notebooks, hold the pieces, and discover the works in all their intimate minutiae.
To accompany the event is a limited edition specialty-released notebook has been commissioned and created by Moleskine and designed by artist Hannah Marshall.
This notebook quietly honours the art of words and the dichotomous themes explored by the artist, combining traditional note-making facilities and Moleskine’s Smart Notebook technology, allowing a variety of creative tools to fill its pages, from fountain pens to the Moleskine Smart Pen for digitised notes, bridging page to screen.
Hans Ulrich Obrist
On September 8th, Moleskine Foundation will partner with Saatchi Gallery for a Saatchi Lates, the iconic Friday evening series moderated by Lwando Xaso – writer, lawyer and Founder of Including Society, where he will be hosting an esteemed panel discussing the topic: A Creativity Revival: On Consciousness, Communion and Joy, supporting spaces where creativity and imagination can flourish.
The Moleskine Foundation is a non-profit organisation with the key aim to drive social change, and to inspire, empower, and connect young people to transform themselves and their communities. T
Funding unconventional educational programs that unlock creative potential, develop change-making attitudes in youth, and foster spaces where critical thinking and imagination can flourish.
Moleskine Foundation holds over 1,500 unique works created by contemporary creative minds who contributed to raising awareness of creativity as a tool for social change through programs that unlock creative and critical thinking among youth from underserved communities worldwide.
For the evening Saatchi evening talk please find further information Here
Hannah Marshall limited edition Moleskin can be purchased Here
If you enjoyed reading Stories Noted In Between the Creamy Pages then why not read The Harmony of Madness and Genius in the Creative Industry
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