ALAN DUNN
The Big Issue was launched in the UK in September 1991 as a monthly
newspaper for homeless people. It became a weekly publication in 1993 and
over the years has evolved in a high standard 48-page magazine which
covers a wide range of social, cultural and political issues.
The residency, the first hosted by the magazine,
was supported by The Big Step - the charitable arm of
The Big Issue In The North which helps foster the personal development
of the vendors. The magazine is sold by people who are homeless or in
vulnerable accommodation. From the cover price (currently £1), a percentage
goes directly to the vendor.
Working with vendors - from Manchester, Leeds, Bolton and Liverpool - and
using the hundreds of back copies of the magazine stored in the offices, the
new posterworks were displayed within the windows of the Oldham Street
premises and toured official and alternative venues across the North.
"the magazine offers an encyclopedic
resource of cultural images - musical, political, sporting"
Robbie Coltrane, Real Madrid allegedly offering to pay Steve McManaman
£110,000 a week, Yoko Ono, have you seen the horizon lately?, artists
who wear glasses photographed from above, looking up, Spiritualized,
flexi-discs (a Big Issue In The North & Strangeways project) ripped
from front covers to create flames which hover around Jimmy Boyles, Victor
Meldrews and Kraftwerks, the use of animals in the numerous 'charitable
cause' adverts at the back of the magazine, the tartan 'army'...
"creativity - who has it?
where does it come from? how much should it earn? what do we do with it?"