The Portico Library’s 25,000 books, archives and illustrations span more than 450 years and include many rare and significant volumes, from Milton, Blake and Gaskell, to Darwin and Captain Cook. The breadth and influence of these titles have provided the starting points for Manchester Metropolitan University’s 2017 group residency and exhibition Made In Translation. Brought together by globally acclaimed textile artist Alice Kettle, this collective incorporates members of Manchester School of Art, with colleagues from the Writing School and the newly combined Faculty of Arts and Humanities. With the kind support of The Zochonis Charitable Trust, these artists, writers and researchers have continued the library’s tradition of uniting disciplines and combining ideas to bring the collection to the people of Manchester and beyond, with innovative responses in image, object and text.
For some of the artists and writers, particular volumes have yielded intriguing glimpses of an anterior world of ideas – one that brought forth our own, but that remains somehow distinct, somehow bygone. For others, short extracts have become as key-chains, unlocking new fields of investigation and offering alternative lenses through which to review contemporary concerns. The library itself has formed the subject for a number of the contributions, imagined simultaneously as a catalogue of catalogues, a hot air ballooning launch pad, a site of archaeological excavation and a storm-struck vessel, embarking on an intrepid voyage of discovery. While this variety of interpretations was hoped for and anticipated with Made in Translation’s initial vision, the depth and energy with which the participants have engaged has been a pleasure to encounter.
For each of the makers and designers, material is fundamental, but what could it mean without the language to conceive it? Likewise for the writers whose medium is text, what language is there but that of a material world? Among the diverse responses to these and other questions, one thing has shown itself time and time again: entering this singular space, exploring its bookshelves and opening up its centuries-old volumes never fails to inspire.