Exhibitions

Venue: The Changing Room, Stirling

Dates: 2nd May–9th June 2007

DIY: Design It Yourself is an exhibition of art, design and anti-design for independent music; visual material that is closely aligned to the personal values of the musicians themselves, rather than traditional advertising campaigns. It is being staged at The Changing Room as part of the Six Cities Design Festival, Scotland’s first nationwide celebration of design.

From re-presentations of Peter Saville’s classic designs for Factory Records as art objects, to original paintings for sleeves by artists such as David Shrigley and Lucy Mackenzie, to a host of small labels, musicians and promoters who design for themselves, the works share attitude rather than an aesthetic approach.

Self publishing and distribution, alongside social networks can play a key role in establishing close collaborations between designer/label or artist/musician, and the exhibition also includes musicians who are artist, designer and publisher of their own work. Seams running throughout include distinctive graphic styles; works that embrace a handmade aesthetic; branding for bands or labels created by the repetitive use of style, material or logo; and other design approaches that might be driven out of necessity, where low-budgets give rise to innovative design solutions.

The exhibition responds to a backdrop of current trends where increasing amounts of music are downloaded rather than bought over the counter, and songs can chart without a single record or CD being pressed. Yet the styling of music and the information held in sleeve design, flyers and merchandising is still as prevalent within download culture as with the promotion of CD, vinyl or cassette.

Includes work by: Alejandra and Aeron, Marc Baines, Rob Churm, Raydale Dower/GFM Productions, Lucy McKenzie, MV & EE, Nuts and Seeds, Optimo, Nigel Peake, Tommy Perman, Peter Saville, Seripop, David Shrigley, Annabel Wright, Wounded Knee & many more. The exhibition design by Ewan Imrie of Collective Architecture includes a stage for live performance and an area for listening to vinyl, CD, cassette and watching material on video and DVD.

DIY: Design It Yourself launches The Changing Room’s 10th anniversary programme and coincides with the 10th anniversary of Stirling’s experimental music festival Le Weekend.

Exhibition part of Six Cities Design Festival. www.six-cities.com