Museums in People’s Homes and Public House : The Yorkshire Square are the final set of events for this year’s Compass Festival in Leeds.
Museums in People’s Homes is based on Wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities and is a portable, one-man museum, put together from 14 collectors’ items. Joshua Sofaer actually wears the museum, and will visit households from 15 – 24 July. Artist Joshua has gathered the stories of some of Leeds’ collectors of strange things, which include models of hands and cats’ whiskers.
One of the collectors is Kathleen, a Leeds-based NHS paramedic who collects models of hands. Joshua has cast her life-saving hand and created a copper glove, copper being known for its antioxidant property. A drum collector has inspired Joshua to create a matchbox artwork. Joshua uses a range of materials to re-fashion and create the artefacts, including precious metals, then houses them in the portable museum designed by Matt Kelly.
You can book the museum to come into your own home, be treated to a personal tour to find out who the Leeds’ collectors are, as well as what they collect and what motivates their collections. Under current national restrictions, households must be limited to a maximum of 5 people. The mobile museum includes a fun-size cafe and a tiny shop, which will sell items inspired by the collection.
Joshua Sofaer: “Perhaps there are two types of people in the world: those that are collectors and those that are not. For those of us that are, collecting can be a way of finding order in the chaos of our lives. As a collector myself, it’s been such a joy and a privilege to travel around Leeds, meeting with collectors, hearing the history of their collections, and working with them to tell their story more widely. Ultimately, Museums in People’s Homes is about the dematerialisation of the object. Really it is about the relationship between humans and non-humans, and how the stuff that surrounds us can bring us solace and meaning.”
Etheridge & Persighetti’s Public House: The Yorkshire Square is a 12ft x 12ft fully operational,
four-sided pub which will investigate the enduring role of pubs as places of community, intergenerational
exchange, entertainment, (hi)story-telling and activism.
The staggering of Compass Festival’s projects this year has been necessary because of COVID restrictions, in order to allow all audiences to experience them as was originally intended. They are mainly outdoors or in wide spaces and can be explored by individuals or small groups or even from home.
Joshua Sofaer
Museums in People’s Homes
Your Home
Thursday 15 – Saturday 24 July 2021
Booking link via: www.compassliveart.org.uk
Etheridge & Persighetti (Small Acts)
Public House – The Yorkshire Square
Kirkgate Market, Leeds, LS2 7HY
Thursday 15 – Saturday 24 July 2021
Booking link via: www.compassliveart.org.uk
Photography by Lizzie Coombes.
