Accession Code: wu0900 Title: EVERYTHING IS REAL, THERE IS NO AUDIENCE Date completed: 2010 Classification: Sculpture Medium: Oak and metal Height (mm): 2040 Width (mm): 12470 Depth (mm): 110 Inscription: Location Name: Arts Centre Location Description: Outside Butterworth Hall Location Floor: 0

© Photograph - Barry Woods

In 2009 the British artist Mark Titchner was approached to make a new work for the refurbished Butterworth Hall.

Mark Titchner habitually works with texts that he retrieves from political manifestos, song lyrics and philosophical treatises and from corporate publications such as Coca-cola’s Be Real. In the past, they have been digitally scripted into large billboards, inviting viewers to reconsider their understanding and relationship to these messages.

For the Butterworth Hall, he has developed a text that references Shakespeare’s All the World’s a Stage, Steve Lamacq’s questioning of the authenticity of the Manic Street Preachers and the broader cultural question of the digital age about the relationship between audiences and a live performance. The layers of cut oak are not only a visual connection to the use of wood in concert halls but recall the craft traditions of Coventry, particularly the silk ribbon industry, the clock-making industry and the technical drawings of the motor industry.