Behind the scenes in Barnsley Archives and Discovery Centre lies a world of treasured information, painstakingly preserved and lovingly tended so that Barnsley folk can delve into their past to find out who they are and where they come from. The home of documents, newspapers, books and photographs, the oldest archived document goes back to the 1100’s.
A new, beautiful film by artist Fabric Lenny captures perfectly the magic moment when information is requested and shows people for the first time, what goes on in the basement stores at the Archives and Discovery Centre in the town hall. Each precious nugget of our past sits waiting for that request to be wanted, to be seen, devoured and cherished by someone from above ground. What happens when a request slip gets filled in and sent down to the archives store is truly amazing.
The film will be launched by Barnsley Council’s Arts, Museums and Archives Team on Friday, 28 March at 9pm when it will be projected on to the front of the Town Hall in an evening not to be missed. The film will also be shown in the learning lab at Experience Barnsley during the evening for those who want a closer look. With a special Ipad drawing demonstration also projected onto the Town Hall the event promises to be quite a spectacle
Yorkshire artist Fabric Lenny – part of the 154 Collective – has played a major part of a number of projects in Experience Barnsley since it opened its doors last June. For the last three months, he and artist Dan Mallaghan have overseen the weekly creative workshops for under 5’s in the museum (see a video of one of them below). He also produced, with school children, an animated film which had a key role in the exhibition The Romans Are Coming.
Fabric Lenny said of the film, “As soon as I set foot in the archives I saw the potential for pixilation animation, and an exciting opportunity to weave a narrative around the objects which inhabit this unseen space. As filming developed the objects became characters which interacted and helped the story unfold to a background of beautiful music from Garforth and Myers. Hamburg based German Artist, Benjamin Rabe will also be joining me to project images and animation created in the moment to a soundtrack of music which is held in the archive.”
This isnt’t the first time Fabric Lenny has projected and animated onto the side of Barnsley buildings. Last year, he projected onto buildings on UEldon Street as part of a collaborative project with Creative Recovery, called Paint the Town Red.
Please note the film projection will be subject to weather conditions.
To find out more about Fabric Lenny, visit the following links:
fabriclenny.co.uk
twitter.com/FabricLenny/
Visit Experience Barnsley here experience-barnsley.com
Photos courtesy of Yvonne Roberts
Fabric Lenny working on the Cardboard Installation
Alternative Barnsley 