Jo Melvin and Clive Phillpot in conversation at the exhibition Jeff Gibbons: IN Signific Landscapes at Take 5, Norwich

The article introduces Jeff Gibbons’ painting within the context of a public conversation held during his exhibition IN Signific Landscapes at Take 5, Norwich (29 September–18 October 2014) between Jo Melvin and Clive Phillpot. The term ‘conversation’ was deliberately chosen to indicate the discursive informality of the advertised gallery discussion. The edited transcript below preserves the performative quality of live exchange. Melvin curated the exhibition, which was accompanied by a publication devised for the occasion. This included a pseudonymously authored introduction by Melvin (Leo Manjivan), ‘Signific Landscapes for Jeff Gibbons: A play on authorship, expectation and significance’, and essays by Gustavo Grandal-Montero (senior librarian, special collections manager Chelsea, Camberwell, Wimbledon, University of the Arts, London), ‘Signific Landscapes’, and, by Gibbons, ‘Signing Significantly’. The conversation situates the way in which Gibbons takes his cue from the autodidact philosopher, Victoria, Lady Welby (1837–1912), who coined the term ‘signific’, using it as the starting point for this particular body of work.