Release Date 06 February 2017

The first new project in the Reading International art festival is due to hit the streets of the town later this month.

Artists Matt Copson and Alastair MacKinven have collaborated to create ‘Eggy and Seedy’, a mix of paintings, installation and performance that will run from 14 February to 13 May 2017.

The eclectic, multi-format project will include collaborations with musicians Ben Wallers and felicita. Mike Skinner – the rapper who transformed British music in the 2000s with The Streets – will appear on a 7” record produced by the artists.

Andrew Hunt, curator of the project and co-director of Reading International, said: “’Eggy and Seedy’ promises to be a very exciting project. The artists’ first event, an exhibition at Munchees in Reading’s Butter Market, will include works on paper by 40 international artists.

“This is basically a Tate-level show housed in a greasy spoon café. To my mind, this intimate way of working sets the standard for Reading International’s diverse series of activities for the next three years.”

While the artists and curators are keeping full details under wraps for the time being, they have promised:

• a series of performances in Reading town centre
• a serialised radio play, based on a fictional birthing ceremony connected to the historical legacy of Land artists Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt
• two concerts
• the publication of a 7″ vinyl record, featuring Mike Skinner

The project’s public opening will take place at 6pm on Saturday 18 February, at Munchees, between Broad Street and Market Place Square, in Reading town centre.

Reading International has also confirmed a series of ArtLab workshops, allowing visitors to try out techniques used by the artists for the next month.

Meanwhile, curators have revealed that the next project in the series will be ‘CRASH!: A Better Britain II’ by Scott King, and Matt Worley which will run from May to July 2017. More details at www.readinginternational.org

Reading International is a £1 million collaboration between the University and Reading Borough Council, and Arts Council England – made possible with nearly half a million pounds from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

It seeks to bring world-class art to the Reading public in prominent and unusual locations, offering new ways for people of all ages and backgrounds to engage with excellent art.

The new phase in the three-year project follows ‘Inside: Artists and Writers in Reading Prison’, the critically-acclaimed project that ran from September to December 2016. The exhibition opened the Victorian jail to the public for the first time, and featured work by artists reflecting on Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment there in the 1890s.

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