'Sixty Four to the Inch' is a video installation commissioned as one of a series of events, performances and exhibitions that comprise Northampton Borough Council’s Shoe Town Festival programme. The title is derived from the expression ‘sixty four stitches to the inch’, which originally referred to the superior quality of workmanship typical of footwear manufactured in Northampton.
Within the spirit of the Shoe Town Festival, Sixty Four to the Inch offers both a celebration of Northampton’s shoe industry and an expression of its survival, symbolising the continuities between the town’s shoemaking past and present. These continuities are made explicit in Sixty Four to the Inch: all footage was filmed in a former shoe factory (built in 1888), and on the premises of Schnieder Boots, also located within the same building.
Sixty Four to the Inch is an evocation of the daily sounds, repetitive routines and rhythms that would have characterised the working lives of a significant proportion of Northampton’s population. It represents what were once the soul and the beating heart of ShoeTown.
Sixty Four to the Inch is the latest collaborative production from Northampton based artists Jonathan Alibone and Alexander Small, and forms the second part of their ongoing project ‘Articulating History’. Through these projects we attempt to locate Art Concepts in Historical Contexts to create new meanings, links and perspectives whilst engaging new audiences.
A unique and laid back afternoon and evening of live music and arts staged by a group of young musicians and artists dedicated to promoting music and art in Northampton.
A selection of musicians will play throughout the museum
including performances from
Velvet Engine
Joel Harries
Gregg Cave + Guests
Invocal
Joe Woolley
Katie Malco
Chris Startup
Noel Griffin & Marek Orzel
Artists from the Artist Sanctuary will be exhibiting work in the Italian Art gallery including
Gareth Haynes
Lynne Keary
Pauline Wood
Sam Wadsworth
Stuart Bush
Craig Liam White
Claire Jarvis
Cheryl Cowles
And a video installation by Jonathan Alibone and Alexander Small in the function room.