A New York artist has turned more than 1,000 copies of The Beatles’ legendary “White Album” into an art installation to be presented at FACT in the band’s hometown of Liverpool, the BBC reports.
Rutherford Chang has so far spent eight years (and an undisclosed amount of cash) collecting 1,018 copies of the album, famous in part for its starkly minimal cover. After several showings in the US, it is the first time that the piece is displayed in the epicentre of the Beatles fandom.
“I’m interested in the White Album as a cultural phenomenon,” the artist told the BBC. “There are all kinds of things written on them and they provide an interesting snapshot of the last half century.”
“I’ve read breaking-up letters written by girlfriends or boyfriends,” he continued. “I’ve seen love letters and poems, drawings – you can imagine.”
Chang is particularly interested in these traces. In another piece, he combined the images of 100 covers, creating a vibrant composition of colors and words.
The music itself, which was mainly written in India during a transcendental meditation retreat, will also be available to the public for the duration of the exhibition.
Beatlemaniac Chang hopes he’ll be able to use his time in Liverpool to significantly increase his collection, and has called on members of the public to come forward if they want to sell him their copy of the album.