Compass Festival Revives The Duchess Of York & Brings A Mini Museum To Homes For Final Projects

A portable, one-man museum formed from 14 collectors' items to visit Leeds homes. Artist Joshua Sofaer will visit households wearing the museum around his body for the artwork comprising of and inspired by the collections of the Leeds based participants.

The museum runs Thursday 15 - Saturday 24 July 2021 - in your home.

Based on the Wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities, Museums in People's Homes is one of the interactive festival's final set of events which also includes Etheridge & Persighetti's Public House: The Yorkshire Square.

Joshua Sofaer has gathered stories from the collectors of strange and marginal things, including North Korean medals, drums, models of hands and cats' whiskers.

Small groups (up to five people from one household) can book the tour which will be undertaken within current coronavirus restrictions.

The mobile museum will also feature a tiny shop and fun size cafe for a full, authentic museum experience. The shop will sell items inspired by the collection such as a limited edition etching, official catalogue and match boogie matchboxes

The people and stories behind the collectors and their items include a Leeds based NHS paramedic who collects models of hands. Joshua has cast her life-saving hand and created a copper glove. Copper is known for its antioxidant life-saving properties. Or there's the professional drummer with a house full of drums whose collection has inspired a matchbox artwork depicting a scene from forties screwball comedy Ball of Fire and the collector whose uncle was gifted a 'garish' oriental tea set which, now in her care, has been re-cast as an urn in commemoration of the gifts we inherit that we're not sure we want to keep.

Joshua Sofaer has re-fashioned and created the artefacts, using a variety of materials, including precious metals to present them to a museum standard. He will house them within the portable museum designed and created with craftsman/designer Matt Kelly from Plaey. The project can be booked to visit your own home, where visitors will be treated to a personal tour of the museum and hear some of the amazing stories of the collectors of Leeds; who they are, what they collect and why.

Artist Joshua Sofaer said of Museums in People's Homes: "Perhaps there are two types of people in the world: those that are collectors and those that are not. For those of us that are, collecting can be a way of finding order in the chaos of our lives. As a collector myself, it's been such a joy and a privilege to travel around Leeds, meeting with collectors, hearing the history of their collections, and working with them to tell their story more widely. Ultimately Museums in People's Homes is about the dematerialisation of the object. Really it is about the relationship between humans and non-humans, and how the stuff that surrounds us can bring us solace and meaning."

Etheridge and Persighetti's Public House: The Yorkshire Square is also taking place concurrent to Museum's in People's Homes from 15 - 24 July. Public House: The Yorkshire Square is a 12ft x 12ft fully operational, four-sided pub which will investigate the enduring role of pubs as places of community, intergenerational exchange, entertainment, (hi)story-telling and activism.

Compass festival, which normally takes place over 10 days, has spread its activities throughout 2021, in light of the pandemic and restrictions. The staggering of projects allows audiences to experience them as intended. Taking you on a journey around Leeds, Compass's interactive artworks are largely outside or in wider spaces. They can be explored alone, in small groups or from home. All projects (where relevant) have enhanced covid protocols and cleaning procedures to ensure the safety of audiences.

Learn more at https://compassliveart.org.uk/.