Saturday 22 July 11:00 - 17:00
An interactive performance/installation piece created by Sally Crabtree
This counter of conceptual confectionary will offer each member of the public a small gold coin which you can spend on just one thing. The Sweetshop of Words explores the notion of choice in our lives.
“Choose well. Your choice is brief, and yet endless” as Goethe says.
On a light hearted level the work is a nostalgic reminder of the agonizing choice we had as children when we couldn’t decide whether to spend our pocket money on lots of little sweets or buy one big thing like a chocolate bar. On a deeper level it raises the philosophical question of choice – what ultimately in life are we able to choose?
The installation has the feel of a fairground stall, with choices for adults and activities for children. Each person will go away with a ‘prize’. Each sweet that you choose comes with its own quirky, philosophical inner layer of meaning and that you will ‘unwrap‘, depending on your own choice.
What will you choose?
Sally Crabtree was once a world class gymnast, winning a scholarship to train in Russia at the age of 14, going on to become the youngest ever member of the GB Women’s gymnastics team, performing around the world.
She is now is an award winning poet , creative consultant and international performance poet/artist who has been described as “Profoundly original – one of Britain’s richest inventions “ (Lars Gustafsson, nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature ) due to her innovative approach to presenting high quality literature and interactive installations to a wide and diverse audience. Some of these include: The Poetree; Word M’art featuring poems in a tin; Poetry Bingo, CreativiTEA and the Object Project. She has been invited to prestigious international poetry festivals around the world as well as performing at such diverse venues as the UN’s Palais des Nations, the opening ceremonies of the Venice Biennale, Shakespeare & Co, Glastonbury and Womad and Lover’s Day Barcelona.
She is an official ambassador for National Poetry Day and was recently poet in residence for the Matisse Museum in France as well as being invited to work with Spotify HQ in Sweden.
She has worked internationally as the Poetry Postie and her latest Poetry Postie – Communities Communicating scheme connected communities in W Cornwall with those in Cuba. During lockdown, her Poetry Postie work hit the airwaves with her Poetry Postie FM show in conjunction with Coast FM. The project won a national award in Westminster being praised for its “outstanding creativity.”
She also writes and design children’s books such as the Magic Train Ride sing-a-long book which is used to teach across the curriculum for foundation school children.
www.sallycrabtree.co.uk • www.thepostalserviceofhappiness.com
This will be a free drop-in event – turn up any time between 11am and 5pm!