Blue Plaque

In preparation for our Cambridge Blue Plaque Walk at this year’s Art Language Location exhibition we will be celebrating some of our nominees. They have all been preserved in blue plaque glory and will be placed on the streets during our walk on the 18th October 2014.

One of my favourite plaques for this exhibition is for Matt Grabham. Although you may not have seen Matt you may well have heard him as you walk through central London and beyond. Once upon a time, I believe he was a nurse, a swashbuckling carer for all our needs and he still fights for the NHS cause, attending marches and protests.

Matt Grabham at Twickfolk 2012

As a musician of some aplomb you might think he would be most at home in a concert venue or recording studio but you’re more than likely to hear him outside Waterstones in Notting Hill Gate or inside the belly of London’s tube network. It is the encounters he endures and sometimes recounts that are worth hearing as much as his music. Read his blog A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Busk that Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld to gain access to a world where people make sweeping assumptions just because you choose to play music in a public place.

Matt Grabham

It is with regret that I have only seen Matt Grabham twice in full flow. The first was playing violin at Twickfolk in Twickenham two years ago while I was artist-in-residence at the venue. The second time was in a heavily trafficked underground tunnel. The verve and passion that he gave to his performance was more impressive than that I have seen at any conventional music venue. Follow Matt on Twitter @montmarcey to get the full flavour of what it’s like on the busking circuit. Alternatively catch him with Baroque Folk Noir quartet Firefay and see/hear what he sounds like amongst fellow (talented) musicians.

Join us on the Cambridge Blue Plaque Walk by meeting outside Cambridge Rail Station, 10.30am on 18th October 2014. There will be Free maps or buy one for £2
Please visit the Art Language Location website where you find plenty more text based art around the city. – http://artlanguagelocation.wordpress.com/

Alban Low

Fold out Cambridge Blue Plaque Map

Cambridge Blue Plaque Walk
Colour Map and Spotters Guide

Published September 2014
ISBN 978-0-9534712-8-7
A3 fold out map
Author – Alban Low, Harvey Wells, Robert Good
Editor – Natalie Low
SLB0007

BUY Cambridge Blue Plaque Walk – £2 (+£1.20 P&P to UK address)

The Cambridge Blue Plaque Walk is a two hour circular walk that visits 21 of Cambridge’s Blue Plaques celebrating famous names like John Maynard Keynes and Sir Jack Hobbs and notable achievements such as the discovery of DNA.

The full colour map highlights the route but allows you to wander off at any point and re-join the trail. There is also a spotter’s guide, to keep children and the eagle-eyed amongst you entertained throughout your journey.

This walk was originally created as part of the Art Language Location festival in 2014 by artist Alban Low. Alongside the 21 established Blue Plaques, Low invited nominations for everyday plaques that celebrated the unsung personalities and events of Cambridge. He printed these as magnetic plaques and placed them throughout the city with help from a keen group of walkers and art enthusiasts. You can see all 50 overleaf and maybe a few still remain on lampposts and railings along the route.

Art Language Location (ALL) is an art festival taking place over two and a half weeks in locations throughout Cambridge, featuring 50 innovative and experimental contemporary artists from across the UK and beyond who use text in their work.

Each artist must find an appropriate venue for their work: the resulting intervention creates a conversation between artist, artwork and location. This extended exhibition aims to punctuate the city with a series of visually exciting and unexpected encounters in which our everyday interactions with text can be explored and challenged.

BUY The Cambridge Blue Plaque Walk Map

Sampson Low

Publishers since 1793

Matt Grabham – Blue Plaque Fiddler

Cambridge Blue Plaque Walk