Description:Q4100

The present catalogue offers a selection of art ephemera originally produced and distributed in and around London in the 1990s and early 2000s: Invitation cards and press releases on the main, though the collection also contains badges, stickers, flyers and other printed matter released on the occasion of art exhibitions. It was accumulated over time by artist and writer Douglas Park. Anybody present on the art scene in London during that period shouldn’t need an introduction to Douglas: he was always a unique presence at openings large and small, usually as barman for the evening. His uncanny ability to remember small seemingly unimportant details of past events, such as the names of people present and what they where doing or the precise outline of past drunken conversations, marked him out as different.

This second issue of from the Bunker presents a small and arbitrary selection of his much larger collection. The book is organised by the names of various exhibition spaces operating during that period in alphabetic order (with tabs on the fore edge). Overall the collection provides of map and timeline of the London art scene at the time covering the whole range of spaces showing art: from temporary outfits in private flats to institutional museums, from commercial galleries to project spaces. The collection ultimately speaks for the energy and dynamism of the period and the level playing field in which diverse would-be-artists showed and shared their work. It also reflects the unique position of Douglas Park as both actor and witness on the scene. In that perspective those artefacts are not merely remnants of temporary exhibitions and events but literally cue cards to Douglas Park’s total recall: a complete work of art redrawing the boundaries of time and space. Together they are not merely a nostalgic exercise but an attempt at redrawing the historical narrative of the period and its overlooked productions.