LIME – Leeds Independent Media Exposition
Incoporating Scribe – artworks inspired by books

4 – 29 September 2008
Leeds Central Library (1st floor exhibition space)

Free admission

The LIME exhibition is a celebration of the work of local grass roots arts and music groups and Leeds based artists and musicians. It showcases the city's thriving independent and DIY arts and music culture. The exhibition includes film and video, photography, paintings, art installations and music installations, many of which have been specially commissioned for this exhibition. Visitors can also see a gallery of gig posters and flyers, as well as displays and information on local arts groups and music training. A sub-exhibition, Scribe, shows new works by Leeds artists, inspired by books from the Central Library's collections. These artworks are displayed in various locations throughout library.

Amy Angus, one of the exhibition curators said, "Leeds is incredibly rich in talent, with many arts and music groups doing exciting, innovative work for the love of it, and often for no profit. A wealth of inspiration is drawn by these people from the city and from each other, and we hope that this exhibition will demonstrate the importance of the Leeds art and music scenes and encourage even more people to join in and create."

There will be a series of events relating to LIME, including a book launch for local artists' collective Black Dogs, art workshops, and a class on how to start your own record label.

LIME is funded by Leeds City Museum, which opens on 13 September 2008 on Millennium Square, and there are plans for future community shows in the new museum's exhibition space.

LIME, Music Library, Central Library, Municipal Buildings, Calverley Street, Leeds LS1 3AB.

Leeds Central Library is open 9:00am – 8:00pm Mondays to Wednesdays; 9:00am – 5:00pm Thursdays and Fridays; 10:00am – 5:00pm Saturdays and 1:00 – 5:00pm on Sundays.

Groups whose work is featured in LIME: Chinchilla Collective, Manifesta Collective, Studio 12, Cloth Cat, Black Dogs, 42 New Briggate Gallery, Pyramid of Arts, Artsmix*, Music Library, Art Library, and Oblong. Films by Edel Doherty, Kaz Bielecki, Claire Circuit, Katie Moore, Black Dogs, Oblong, Eoin Shea, Chris Paul Daniels and Studio 12.

Artists whose work is featured in Scribe: Chris Agnew, Amy Angus, Helen Batley and Alex Witt, Matthew Bartle, Bronwyn Brady, Sophie Derrick, Ronald Arthur Dewhirst, Jane Ann Faram, Fiona Gourlay, Charlotte Hall, Jenny Lewis, Kirstie Nichols, Lee Noon, Bridget O'Brien, Jennifer Pickard, Joe Simpson, Jennifer Anne Smith, Nico Smith, and Ki Yan Yoong.

Leeds Independent Media Exposition is a celebration of independent music and arts culture in Leeds; its mission is to promote the work of local groups and individuals who are actively involved in cultural activities, at grass roots level and for no financial profit. We aim to encourage wider participation in art and music, especially from people who may not traditionally engage with the arts, and the LIME participants were selected with this is mind. For instance, Oblong, Cloth Cat and Studio 12 provide musical training and access to equipment for young people, the unemployed, and other hard-to-reach groups; and Pyramid of Arts facilitates participation in the creative arts by people with and without learning disabilities.

The tendency of some institutions to treat culture as a commodity rather than a tool for critical engagement is counterproductive. Our aim with LIME is to promote the positive functions of art and music as media for self-expression and the exploration of ideas. We take the political philosophical concept of the 'multitude' – dissenting individuals and minority groups who act independently and express subjective experience, without feeling the need to become a majority – as our model for comprehending the activities of our participating collectives, and for understanding the importance of their existence.

For that reason, we are "DIY curious" (Black Dogs): creative activity should not be isolated from everyday experience, nor should it be the preserve of an elite. Leeds University based Professors of Geography, Paul Chatterton and Rachael Unsworth suggest that, in order to "support cultural activity on the creative sub-cultural fringe without restricting it…the key is to create genuinely independent spaces where creativity, dissent and critique can flourish, while letting go of fears associated with the growth of subversive cultures": Leeds needs more such spaces, and we hope that LIME will highlight this.

Email address and MySpace page: lime.scribe@hotmail.co.uk | http://www.myspace.com/lime_scribe

LIME on the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/content/articles/2008/08/19/visual_arts_lime_feature.shtml

Curators: Amy Angus, Matt Woodward, Drew Milward