COLCHESTER.- Firstsite announced that it will be staging Cultural Traffic, a fair for counterculture material, alongside a day of performance, poetry, music and film, on Saturday 18th February.
Free and open to all, the fair, which will be held in the gallery’s foyer, will feature over 40 dealers of new, rare and collectable books, zines, prints, posters, catalogues, vinyl and tapes, giving the public a unique opportunity to purchase an eclectic variety of items at affordable prices directly from the producers.
The hugely popular pop-up Syrian Café will return with a special menu of delicious food, available to eat-in or take-away. The café is run by Syrian families who have been resettled in Colchester, serving homemade delicacies from their region— including lentil soup, falafel wraps, savoury pies and sweet pastries— with money raised going back to Refugee Action—Colchester.
The event will also see Firstsite’s newly launched café bar in action, a collaboration with social charity We Walk the Line. Serving direct trade coffee and pastries, its ‘Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!’ project trains local people to develop the skills they need to find employment.
The day will be closed by a special screening of My Buddha is Punk (2015) at 6pm. Directed by Andreas Hartmann, the documentary centres on a young Burmese punk pursuing the dream of seeing the punk scene take off in Myanmar.
Cultural Traffic was launched by editor, designer and collector Toby Mott, who says: ‘Cultural Traffic is a fascinating window into the flourishing post-digital zine scene. We are thrilled to be bringing it to its first siting outside of London, as well as to a world class museum, and to join together to celebrate creative mavericks and outsiders of every order.’
Says Firstsite director, Sally Shaw: ‘The Cultural Traffic fair taps into something that is at the heart of Firstsite’s mission – to stage events that reach out to the whole community. We are delighted that more than forty stallholders will be attending, and grateful to all the performers who have agreed to participate in what looks set to be a fantastic day.’
The event will coincide with the final weekend of Introspective, the major survey of Gee Vaucher, which is being held at the gallery until 19th February.
