Exhibition Centre for the Life and Use of Books at Islington Mill

We’ve all read books that we’ve never wanted to put down, or that have made us want to go out into the world and shout about them with like-minded people. Now, a new project based at Islington Mill is giving voice to the afterlife of books that starts when the final page has been turned and the cover has been closed for the last time. The Exhibition Centre for the Life and Use of Books consists of two-month temporary libraries curated by artists, writers and activists, alongside a permanent reference library of ‘books about books and books about collections of books’, with the ideas within brought to life by accompanying exhibitions exploring the web of connections between words and images. The first set of books, featuring politically engaged titles by the likes of independent publishers Zer0 and Unkant, will be available for the public to drop in and browse each Thursday and Friday throughout May and June. If you like what you read there will be opportunities to carry on the conversation at related book launches and events, starting with Robert Dellar’s Splitting in Two: Mad Pride and Punk Rock Oblivion and Esther Leslie’s Derelicts: Thought Worms from the Wreckage (Sat 10 May, 5pm) and Agata Pyzik’s Poor But Sexy (Wed 1 Jun, 6pm), as well as SPRING, a day-long conference discussing the current state of leftist politics (Sat 17 May, 10.30am – 5.30pm). As the project evolves, the Exhibition Centre for the Life and Use of Books will also be generating its own reading matter by commissioning new writing, and there are further opportunities to get involved at a Hackathon at Islington Mill (Sat 7 June, 1pm – 1am).

Thu 8 + Fri 9 May, then Thu and Fri throughout May and June, Islington Mill, James Street, Salford M3 5HW, FREE, 11am-6pm, www.lifeanduseofbooks.org