Coventry has always had a lot of mail passing in and out and through it. At one point, the Bishop Street sorting office handled more mail than any other in the country, and the post service has been an important part of the city’s economy since the 1920s.
Perhaps this was because the city had a lot to say, and those elsewhere had a lot to say back to the city. At any rate, there has always been such a volume of post – love letters, bills, postcards, job offers, dear Johns, good news, bad news, wedding invitations, official notifications, pay cheques, good luck cards, sorry to hear cards, and letters to Santa – flowing through Coventry that its easy to feel that the sorting offices still hum with them, even once the building has become empty. A CITY GROWN FROM WORDS is an installation which is a reflection of deserted sorting offices everywhere. Places where words – significant or trivial, written or typed, tear-stained or computer generated – have been held and processed before spreading through the city, affecting and changing the lives of those who read them.When: Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th March 2011.
Where: 50 Bishop Street (old Oxfam Homeware Shop – down the street from the Bishop Street sorting office),Coventry, CV1 1HW.
Open: 12 – 4pm
Admission: Free
Words from the Birds 