To celebrate 70 years of the album format, National Album Day will launch an exhibition of album artwork in Network Rail stations
An exhibition commemorating 70 years of iconic album artwork is set to take place from 8 October 2018, as part of the UK’s first National Album Day celebrations.
The public exhibition will launch at London’s Waterloo Station before travelling to Manchester Piccadilly and Glasgow Central Station.
In association with the Best Art Vinyl Awards, an expert panel of judges will select the best album artwork to represent each year from 1949-2004. These choices then contribute to the last 13 winners of the Best Art Vinyl Awards, which has been running since 2005, all with the aim of creating a definitive retrospective of UK popular culture one 12″ at a time.
The exhibition begins in 1949, with a design by Alex Steinweiss who is regarded as the world’s first sleeve designer; in this case for the first Beethoven LP releases. The journey continues on through time, paying homage to Miles Davis, Nick Drake, Grace Jones, The Strokes, Run The Jewels and many more iconic artists’ sleeve designs. The range of artists is wide, with the Beatles being the only double appearance.
In a bid to find the nation’s favourite, the public will be invited to select 3 pieces of artwork from the 70 selected designs and can cast their votes here. The UK’s ultimate album cover will then be revealed at the end of November.
The exhibition will run from 8 October to 19 November, with a two-week stay in each location: Waterloo (8-21 October), Manchester Piccadilly (22 October to 5 November) and finally Glasgow (6-19 November).
National Album Day will take place on 13 October 2018 and will be marked by encouraging everyone in the UK to take a pause at 3.33pm and listen to their favourite album. Find out more here.