Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Central Lancashire
Artwork: The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall
by The Fall(BB QCD 2066)
Artwork: This Nation’s Saving Grace by The Fall (BB QCD 2067)
In Alker’s collaboration “The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall” the divide between popular culture and the avant-garde is explored. Indeed, the iconic place of the seminal Manchester band The Fall is fundamental to how Alker deconstructs the language of popular culture, and issues of authorship and authenticity.
Alker’s strategy is to make work which can exist equally between the worlds of music and art, and continues to reflect on the theoretical and cultural interactions between musicians and artists. Record collections engage with social and historical structures outside of the gallery context. The Fall’s choice to use Alker’s work also made public a political stance on the value and intellectual underpinnings of their contemporary music.
‘The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall’ and ‘This Nation’s Saving Grace’ are omnibus edition boxed set album releases by The Fall on Beggars Banquet Records featuring artwork by Alker and Liddell. The albums are re-issues of seminal recordings and the box sets include a 40 page publication about the history of the recordings. The paintings are featured on the title pages of the books which accompany the boxed sets. The omnibus edition sets were distributed internationally.
The Fall occupies a unique position in contemporary music as a stand-alone, experimental music project headed by iconic frontman Mark. E. Smith. They were formed in 1976 and have encompassed a number of musical strands including punk, country and Krautrock. They are famously known as former music presenter John Peel’s favourite band, performed at the Bloomberg Space in 2008, and have influenced numerous (indie) rock bands including Sonic Youth, Pavement and Franz Ferdinand. They were the subject of a conference in the University of Salford in 2008, Messing Up The Paintwork: A conference on the Aesthetics and Politics of Mark E. Smith and The Fall.
