Manchester International Festival - Day 2

We began our day of Manchester International Festival exhibitions at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) where there was an impressive audio-visual installation by Samson Young.

'One of Two Stories, or Both (Field Bagatelles) is a newly commissioned radio series and gallery installation inspired by tales of Chinese migrants. Sound artist and composer Samson Young took visitors and listeners on a journey inspired by the myths and legendary tales of 17th-century Chinese travellers making their way to Europe on foot.'

'The work began with a five part radio series performed by a cast of actors, artists and musicians. Following the radio series, the gallery presents a multi-layered installation incorporating material from the radio performances to provide another intriguing perspective to these stories, and investigate how journeys are remembered and retold.' 

A curtain rail with translucent curtains spans the perimeter of the gallery, and these are operated manually, periodically moving around the space. As the blinds opened and closed automatically, the changing light conditions reminded me of the daily cycle of light conditions and the passage of time.

In the back gallery space was a group exhibition, From Ocean to Horizon, a group exhibition featuring artists presenting unique perspectives on living and working in present-day Hong Kong.

http://www.cfcca.org.uk/

I then ventured to two galleries that I had never visited before: Paper Gallery and PS Mirabel, both located on Mirabel Street close to Victoria train station.

'PAPER is an artist-led, commercial gallery based in Manchester and represents a range of emerging and mid-career artists whose practice is based around the medium of paper. This ranges from drawing, painting, and printmaking to artist's books, video, and performance. The gallery opened in August 2012 and has a regular programme of exhibitions, presenting the work of gallery artists as well as providing a platform for outside curatorial projects. In 2013 PAPER instigated an Artist-in-Residence programme, Exploring PAPER, and in 2014 a mentoring scheme for artists based in the North-West of England, funded by Arts Council England.'

The current exhibition, The Surface of Things, is produced in collaboration with LA-based Durden & Ray and was part of the Manifest festival. It is an exhibition exploring contemporary Abstract painting.

Featured artists: Lisa Denyer / Frances Disley / EC / Brendan Fletcher / Roni Feldman / Jenny Hager / Sharon Hall / Vincent Hawkins / David Leapman / Mali Morris / Max Presneill

http://www.paper-gallery.co.uk/

Next door to Paper Gallery, PS Mirabel is another artist run project and exhibition space. Small world is the gallery's open call exhibition in which all the works need to be no larger than 20x20x20cm.

http://www.psmirabel.co.uk/


My next destination was Castlefield Gallery. The gallery has a strong commitment to developing emerging contemporary artists and practice. 'Its ambitious curated exhibitions programme responds to national and international trends, promoting artists at key stages of their careers. Central to CG’s activities is an artist development programme that has launched major commission-winning artists.

Castlefield Gallery’s vision is for the North to be a place where artists can live and produce work, while presenting their work in national and international contexts. Its mission is to nurture talent, explore cultural trends and deepen the audience’s relationship to contemporary art.

The current exhibition presents a new body of work by Manchester-based painter Lindsey Bull, alongside a new mixed media installation and performance by London-based collective Plastique Fantastique.'

http://www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/


We then met a couple of Manchester based artists, Chris and Kelvin who took us to Title Date Duration. 

This space has been created to focus on the relationship between the art work and the viewer. The artist's name does not appear until the viewer has seen the exhibition, therefore avoiding the reading of the work being determined or influenced by the artist's reputation or image. I think this is a really genuine way to help ensure that the discussion around the work focuses on the work. 'It allows the art work presented to only be concerned with the act of viewing, and the will of the individual to view it. The programme intends to provide an opportunity for reflection and discussion.'

http://titledateduration.com/


The group then called at HOME where the exhibition, La Movida was presented in the main gallery space.

“It’s difficult to speak of La Movida and explain it to those who didn’t live those years. We weren’t a generation; we weren’t an artistic movement; we weren’t a group with a concrete ideology. We were simply a bunch of people that coincided in one of the most explosive moments in the country.” – Pedro Almodóvar

'This pioneering contemporary visual art group exhibition takes the artistic and socio-cultural movement La Movida (literally “the movement”) of post-Franco Spain as its thematic heart. Suddenly the forbidden arenas of politics and sexuality are open season for public debate and creative communities. Excess, clubbing, drugs, artistic freedom, gay rights, pornography and more all collided in an outpouring of freedom from suppression and a desire for making up on lost time in the early 80s in Madrid.'

Upstairs, Eden Kötting & Anonymous Bosch presented work.

The paintings and collages in this exhibition were inspired by the Edith Walks project which itself was inspired by the life of Edith Swan Neck. Eden Kötting was born in 1988 with Joubert Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. She grew up in London and developed a keen interest in drawing and painting. In 1996 she appeared in her father’s experimental feature film Gallivant along with her great grandmother Gladys.

Anonymous Bosch produces work that 'fulfills the important post-medieval role of witness/chronicler to Andrew Kötting’s troubadour band on their long march in the spectral footsteps of King Harold, from one grave in Waltham Abbey via another in Battle to a sculpture at St Leonards-on-Sea (during production of Kötting’s latest film-essay, Edith Walks).'

https://homemcr.org/

My final gallery for the day was the Whitworth Gallery, where I literally had a whistlestop tour of the current exhibitions including No End to Enderby by Graham Eatough and Stephen Sutcliffe, Cornelia Parker: Verso and John Akomfrah's film Vertigo Sea.

http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/

Trip to Manchester International Festival - Day 1

I joined the NewBridge Project on a trip to Manchester to visit the Manchester International Festival.

We spent Friday afternoon in Salford visiting a number of artist run spaces.

Our first stop was The International 3 where the directors Laurence Lane and Paulette Terry Brien gave us an introduction to the organisation.

The International 3 is an exhibition and project space in Salford who work with emerging and established artists, independent curators, galleries and organisations to produce a programme of new commissions, solo shows, group exhibitions and events both on and off-site. The International 3 also works with and represents a core group of artists, exhibiting and selling their work at national and international art-fairs; brokering exhibition and private commission opportunities.
http://www.international3.com

We then headed to Islington Mill for a cuppa and a look around with Stina Puotinen.

Islington Mill is a leading independent UK arts organisation based in Salford, in the NW of England. Structured around an organic network of independent artists, Islington Mill runs innovative inter-disciplinary public arts programmes and artist residencies alongside studio spaces and an artists’ B&B. Drawing on the radical and subversive creative energy running through its arts activities, Islington Mill also has a reputation for putting on legendary experimental gatherings, events and parties.
http://www.islingtonmill.com


Our final art space visit was to Paradise Works where we met Hilary and Chris.



Paradise Works is a new artist-led initiative on the border of Salford and Manchester.



Established in April 2017, Paradise Works provides studio space to to 26 contemporary artists working across the disciplines of sculpture, installation, painting, drawing, film, audio, performance, photography and curation.



It draws together artists from studios that were under threat or recently closed such as Rogue Studios.

A delightfully unexpected encounter with Claire Hignett

Earlier in the year I signed up to participate in a Practice Makes Practice weekend event organised by The NewBridge Project in which NewBridge members could engage with a group of artists from Islington Mill, Salford. Unfortunately the event had to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances, but it is due to be rearranged in the future. After doing some research into Islington Mill, I had ear-marked it as a place to visit.

Last week I made a visit to Manchester for a variety of art related events, and ended up spending most of my time in Salford. As I waited for entry into the exhibition at ArtWork Atelier, I got talking to a woman who was also waiting to see the exhibition. It turned out that I was talking to Claire Hignett, an artist with a studio at Islington Mill who had also intended to attend the NewBridge Project/Islington Mill weekend event earlier in the year. Claire kindly offered to show me around Islington Mill (see earlier blog post) http://helenshaddock.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/islington-mill.html and introduce me to her work.



Claire writes,

"I am fascinated by the effect time has on memory. How memories start to fragment and merge with others. How, as we move through time and gather new experiences, our perception of our memories changes. I am particularly intrigued by the way we attach memory to objects and how we keep things that are broken, useless or were cherished by someone else to try and hold on to our memories and to stop them fragmenting any more."

In 2012 Claire began working on a project "to find out more about a group of Basque refugee children who came to Salford following the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War."

In June 1937, 4000 Basque children arrived in Southampton as refugees and were dispersed around the country in “colonies”. One of these colonies was in Salford at Harold’s Memorial Orphanage, now demolished but only five minutes walk from Claire's current home, and they were taught at the Local Quaker Meeting House, now a British Legion building just a little further on. Claire mentioned the children to her friend’s Mum (age 83) and she was delighted to be asked. She remembered being 9 years old and leaving hospital after a bout of mumps. She went with her friends to look at the refugees because “we thought they would be exotic but [we] were dead disappointed because they looked just like us!”



Claire is in the process of preparing for her exhibition at Ordsall Hall from July 18th to 24th September 2017. Her exhibition will be based on the story of the Basque Children in Salford. "Finding stories in old newspapers and talking to people who still remember them, she will create the exhibition to tell this hidden story."

While in her studio at Islington Mill I saw some of the work that she has been developing for the exhibition, and I look forward to going to see the end result in the Summer.



For more about Claire's work visit her website:

http://www.clairehignett.co.uk/

and her blog:

http://www.clairehignett.co.uk/blog/

Claire is a member of the Islington Mill Art Academy, "a peer-led experiment into alternative modes of art education. Founded in 2007, IMAA emphasises shared responsibility, and its nature changes with its membership, with each member bringing their own ideas and energy. Within IMAA there is no differentiation between professor and pupil, and there are no set courses, but rather a shared propensity to learn and to strive for understanding. The group seek out and utilise the resources which they can find around them, and employ 'art method' towards diverse, and not necessarily artistic, outcomes. Whilst the nature of IMAA is fluid and subject to change, it is always crucial to share ideas, and to embrace the skills and knowledge of members."

For more information about the Islington Mill Art Academy visit:

http://islingtonmillartacademy.blogspot.co.uk/

Islington Mill

On my recent visit to Salford I was fortunate to meet artist and maker Claire Hignett with a studio at Islington Mill. (See my other separate blog post for more information on Claire's work). She kindly agreed to show me around and tell me more about the Mill.

"Created in 2000, Islington Mill remains a work in progress; an ever-evolving creative space, arts hub and community. Scratch the surface and you’ll find a vibrant and resourceful cross disciplinary creative network; a space where conversations leads to connections, collaboration and co-creation.

Public arts programmes, residencies and galleries sit alongside recording studios, an events space and a Bed and Breakfast facility for artists. Music and visual arts mix with events and exhibitions. More than 50 businesses and 100 artists call the Mill home. More than 15,000 people visit the building every year.

Islington Mill is a celebration of the unconventional; of radical and subversive thinking – it is a place where anything feels possible. The flexibility and fluid structure is a catalyst for creativity, allowing artists, residents and tenants to challenge accepted notions of what arts and culture can do, and who can be involved. The residents treasure their independence to explore and to create; to live and work as freely and creatively as possible, fostering an openness to experiment.

The Mill was built on an ethos of experimentation, creativity and inclusivity that has evolved and clarified over time. More than just a physical venue, there is an attitude and approach that unites people. The organic network they have forged continues to evolve because of the actions of the people who get involved; they community.

Collaboration is valued – within the Mill, the local community, nationally and internationally – and they are an integral part of the area’s regeneration. Attracting and retaining talent is fundamental to what the Mill does – supporting creative entrepreneurs and facilitating the potential and promise they bring. The ethos of participation, community and open space makes Islington Mill a vital ingredient in the urban regeneration mix, both in complementing what’s on offer and generating new possibilities.

The Mill sits between the University of Salford and Manchester city centre, straddling the two cities; simultaneously at the heart of Salford’s creative community and just a 10-minute walk down Chapel Street to Manchester city centre. The studio spaces are situated across the upper floors of the main converted mill – an imposing red brick building constructed around a cobbled central courtyard.



The Mill has a variety of atmospheric, industrial spaces around the complex, including live workspace in the external outbuilding as well as a ground floor venue and gallery space." Claire even took me up to the top floor and showed me the attic. There are exciting plans to develop this space into residency studios.

Whilst walking around the building I met a few other studio holders, including US artist, educator and curator, Stina Puotinen. Stina recently exhibited at Vane Gallery in Newcastle, an exhibition I was hugely excited by and that I blogged about. What a coincidence!

http://www.islingtonmill.com/tenant/stina-puotinen/

http://www.stinapuotinen.com/

http://www.islingtonmill.com/

Matthew Darbyshire: An Exhibition for Modern Living at Manchester Art Gallery

"This major exhibition by British contemporary artist Matthew Darbyshire is the artist’s largest solo public exhibition to date and includes ten of his large-scale environments from the last decade, as well as new sculptural works for the Gallery’s grand 19th century entrance hall.

Darbyshire’s work critically examines the language of design, sculpture and our relationship to lived environments. The artist explores the concept of collecting, not only in terms of an institutional critique, but also the way we amass objects for the home, shop or office and what these objects say about us. These ideas are explored in Darbyshire’s work that gives the exhibition its title, An Exhibition for Modern Living (2011). A highlight of British Art Show 7, this work is inspired by the landmark 1949 exhibition of the same name at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The 1949 exhibition collected the best of modern ‘design for living’ in the context of the rapidly changing society of post-Second World War America. The show set an example of how design could be made available for the masses and achieved legendary status due to the site-specific custom room installations. At Manchester Art Gallery, Darbyshire will present a contemporary equivalent that is somewhat more anxious than the 1949 exhibition, presenting an environment packed with objects varying from valuable collectors’ pieces and handmade sculptures to readily available high street items. The work succinctly questions the political and economic agendas that inform our taste and value judgements today.



While the work An Exhibition for Modern Living examines the nature of how and why individuals collect, Oak Effect (2012) addresses how museums and galleries acquire artworks. For this piece, Darbyshire displays original wooden objects in a room made from contemporary pieces of flat-pack furniture. The artist has re-worked this installation with curators and conservators at the gallery to present a diverse range of hand-made artefacts fashioned from natural wood from the city’s collections, challenging us to think about the provenance and display of our collections in a very different way.

More recently, Darbyshire has begun to explore industrial prototyping and 3D digital printing to create sculptures using pristine white polystyrene for his Bureau series (2014). The artist has subsequently built on this research and techniques developed to recreate classical and contemporary sculptural forms from layers of hand-cut, multi-coloured polycarbonate as part of a series entitled CAPTCHA. Two sculptures have been created specifically for the exhibition as part of this series, which will be positioned in Manchester Art Gallery’s impressive Doric entrance hall.Doryphoros and Dyson will take the place of traditional bronze and marble figurative sculpture on either side of the grand stone staircase, set against the backdrop of casts from the Parthenon frieze given by George IV to decorate Manchester’s very own temple to culture."






http://manchesterartgallery.org/exhibitions-and-events/exhibition/matthew-darbyshire-an-exhibition-for-modern-living/

SAFE - exhibition at HOME, Manchester

“Are you allergic to the 21st century?” 

'Imagine becoming allergic to everything you enjoy...


This group exhibition takes Todd Haynes’ film, Safe (1995), as a starting point for a series of new commissions in moving image, sculpture, print, writing and performance from artists Claire Makhlouf Carter, Chris Paul Daniels, Camilla Wills, Yoshua Okon and 2014 Turner Prize nominee James Richards alongside existing work by Michael Dean, Sunil Gupta, Laura Morrison and Jala Wahid.

Haynes’ film stars Julianne Moore as Carol White, a 1980s Californian housewife who becomes increasingly allergic to everyday domestic products and routine activities, eventually moving to an enclosed community in New Mexico. It can be read as a reflection on environmental issues, sexual politics, the AIDS epidemic and suburban disillusionment. At first her illness appears to empower her - to offer an escape from her stifling life. But eventually White is left frail and alone in a porcelain cabin in the desert, with the dubious promise of self-love to console her. White appears trapped, either incapable or unwilling to reconcile the psychological and the physical.'

Initially I found Jala Wahid's photographic images of bodily materials such as food and cosmetics to be seductive, but they also verge on the unpleasant as the materials begin to deteriorate from their original form, to curdle, crack or separate.

My highlight of the exhibition was the new commission, Fridge-Freezer (2015) by Yoshua Okon. Separated from the other exhibits by a curtain, one enters a comfortable home- cinema type setup, with luxurious carpeted flooring and a sofa in order to view the 2 channeled video installation by Yoshua Okon. Fridge-Freezer was filmed at show homes in the suburbs of Manchester and features well-groomed female estate agents selling the supposedly stylish properties, focusing on the safety features such as high windows to prevent children from tampering, and a front door with a security viewing device (peephole). My gut reaction was to laugh; the artificiality and sterile nature of the properties and the overly enthusiastic estate agents emphasise the ridiculousness that is how we believe that this is the kind of environment that we should aspire to live in, and the isolated lifestyles that we should lead.

http://homemcr.org/exhibition/safe/

http://www.theskinny.co.uk/art/reviews/safe-home

http://www.creativetourist.com/articles/art/manchester/safe-at-home-are-you-allergic-to-the-21st-century/

http://www.live-manchester.co.uk/previewed-exhibition-inspired-by-movie-safe-at-home/

Matthew Darbyshire: An Exhibition for Modern Living at Manchester Art Gallery

This major exhibition by British contemporary artist Matthew Darbyshire is the artist’s largest solo public exhibition to date and will include ten of his large-scale environments from the last decade, as well as new sculptural works for the Gallery’s grand 19th century entrance hall.

My joined 2

Darbyshire’s work critically examines the language of design, sculpture and our relationship to lived environments. The artist explores the concept of collecting, not only in terms of an institutional critique, but also the way we amass objects for the home, shop or office and what these objects say about us. These ideas are explored in Darbyshire’s work that gives the exhibition its title, An Exhibition for Modern Living(2011). A highlight of British Art Show 7, this work is inspired by the landmark 1949 exhibition of the same name at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The 1949 exhibition collected the best of modern ‘design for living’ in the context of the rapidly changing society of post-Second World War America. The show set an example of how design could be made available for the masses and achieved legendary status due to the site-specific custom room installations. At Manchester Art Gallery, Darbyshire will present a contemporary equivalent that is somewhat more anxious than the 1949 exhibition, presenting an environment packed with objects varying from valuable collectors’ pieces and handmade sculptures to readily available high street items. The work succinctly questions the political and economic agendas that inform our taste and value judgements today.

Standardised Production Clothing - Version 7

While the work An Exhibition for Modern Living examines the nature of how and why individuals collect, Oak Effect (2012) addresses how museums and galleries acquire artworks. For this piece, Darbyshire displays original wooden objects in a room made from contemporary pieces of flat-pack furniture. The artist has re-worked this installation with curators and conservators at the gallery to present a diverse range of hand-made artefacts fashioned from natural wood from the city’s collections, challenging us to think about the provenance and display of our collections in a very different way.

Dyson5

More recently, Darbyshire has begun to explore industrial prototyping and 3D digital printing to create sculptures using pristine white polystyrene for his Bureau series (2014). The artist has subsequently built on this research and techniques developed to recreate classical and contemporary sculptural forms from layers of hand-cut, multi-coloured polycarbonate as part of a series entitled CAPTCHA. A sculpture from Darbyshire’s CAPTCHA series is currently a highlight of the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Two sculptures have been created specifically for the exhibition as part of this series, which will be positioned in Manchester Art Gallery’s impressive Doric entrance hall.Doryphoros and Dyson will take the place of traditional bronze and marble figurative sculpture on either side of the grand stone staircase, set against the backdrop of casts from the Parthenon frieze given by George IV to decorate Manchester’s very own temple to culture.


http://manchesterartgallery.org/exhibitions-and-events/exhibition/matthew-darbyshire-an-exhibition-for-modern-living/


https://www.artrabbit.com/events/matthew-darbyshire-an-exhibition-for-modern-living?utm_source=Website+subscribers&utm_campaign=1732d90a66-ArtRabbit_Openings_in_the_UK9_23_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0542a9a093-1732d90a66-229848997

Playtime at Cornerhouse, Manchester

Playtime exhibition at Cornerhouse, Manchester

For this exhibition the artists took inspiration from Cornerhouse’s iconic brick structure and Jacques Tati’s 1967 comedy film Playtime which follows an American tourist and a befuddled Frenchman as they negotiate a bafflingly modern Paris.

Niklas Goldbach's Habita C3B depicts a nearly deserted urban environment populated by a handful of identical men engaged in an unknown mission. The characters chase a man who breaks from the group through the labyrinthine architecture of Paris's Front de Seine district.

The film is shown on a loop and although it can be watch from any point, I was pleased to have entered at a time when the characters were walking as opposed to running. This aided my enjoyment of the gradual increase in pace and tension that is built up as the chase progresses.



For Bouncer, Gabriel Lester installed a sequence of wooden swing doors in the gallery leading the audience through an obstacle course from one side of the gallery to the other. I became very conscious of the person behind me as the noise from the slapping doors fills the gallery.



Naomi Kashiwagi's work Swingtime continues on the interactive theme. She installed a couple of swings in the gallery. The area that the swings inhabit is carpeted with a foamy mat material to cushion any impact of landing on the floor.



As one swings, a swooshing sound accompanies the back and forth movements. I cannot remember the last time I had been on a swing, and participating in this artwork reminded me of the freeing feeling that engaging in such a simple action can bring.

Mark Devereux Projects announce Projects: Manchester

Last month I became a member of Mark Devereux Projects, an artist production-development organisation established to help increase the national and international profile of early-career visual artists.

With each practitioner’s artistic and career development paramount, emphasis is placed upon mentoring and helping the individual to place themselves within the industry through concentrated critical engagement and promotion.

Mark Devereux Projects have just announced it's latest project:

Mark Devereux Projects are delighted to announce the launch of
PROJECTS: MANCHESTER
AND BEYOND MERELY ASSEMBLING EXHIBITION
FRIDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2013

Launching this November, Projects: Manchester is a new pop-up space dedicated to nurturing and developing the work of emerging artists. Responding to the current ecology and Mark Devereux Projects’ ongoing ambition to help nurture the best up and coming talent, we are excited to offer creatives a new test space. Emphasising Manchester’s reputation for its support to early-career artists, the space will be available to trial new ideas.

 

Taking residence in one of the eight floors of former office space at the Co-Operative’s major Federation House in central Manchester and as part of Castlefield Art Gallery’s New Art Spaces initiative, the venue will offer artists the opportunity to showcase, develop and experiment.

 

To launch Projects: Manchester, Mark Devereux Projects will be showcasing the work of ten of the organisation’s associate members responding to the title ‘Beyond Merely Assembling’. With works considering the way in which we respond to the environment around us, the spaces we occupy and how we often try to make-do with what we have, the exhibition includes the mediums of installation, painting, sculpture, video and performance.

Selected by Kerry Harker (Director The Tetley, Leeds), Gill Park (Director Pavilion, Leeds), Tony Charles (Director Platform-A, Middlesbrough) and Mark Devereux, each artist is given dedicated one-to-one developmental and critical support from Mark Devereux Projects, helping to nurture their ongoing careers.

Beyond Merely Assembling features the work of; Bettina Amtag, Tom Beesley, David Bethell, Phoebe Eustance, Charles Gershom, Aylwin Greenwood-Lambert, Mark Houghton, Katrien van Liefferinge, Kit Mead, Darren Nixon and Zervou-Kerruish.

Beyond Merely Assembling launches on Friday 8 November, 6-9pm and continues until Wednesday 20 November. There will also be a special event on Sunday 17 November, with further information to be announced shortly.

---

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Projects: Manchester, 1st Floor, Federation House, Federation Street, Manchester, M60 0AF
Opening times: 1-7pm Tues-Fri | 12-4pm Sat-Sun | Closed Mon

markdevereuxprojects.com

Mark Devereux Projects

I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I have finally got round to joining as an Associate Member with Mark Devereux Projects.

Mark Devereux Projects is an artist production-development organisation established to help increase the national and international profile of early-career visual artists. With each practitioner’s artistic and career development paramount, emphasis is placed upon mentoring and helping the individual to place themselves within the industry through concentrated critical engagement and promotion.

As the cost of education is rising and more and more creative people are unable to commit to long-term education, artists are turning to the DIY approach. This means there are substantial numbers of creatives with the talent, ambition and drive to succeed within the market but lack support and direction to get there. Mark Devereux Projects provides a generous and thoughtful approach to working with artists.

Initially trained as an artist, Mark Devereux founded and Directed Blank Media Collective from 2006-2012. Working with early career visual artists, performers and writers, Devereux curated and produced numerous exhibitions, events and publications, showcasing the work of these practitioners. He was pivotal in the acquisition of BLANKSPACE gallery, Manchester in 2011, in which he was Director until leaving the organisation.

For further information and details about Mark Devereux Projects visit the website:

http://markdevereuxprojects.com/site/homepage

Mark visited me during my residency at Market Gallery earlier this year, and it was then that he told me about the organisation that he was (at that time) setting up.

Mark Devereux Projects was launched in July 2013 at CUBE, Manchester with an exhibition featuring the three selected artists that Mark is working with, namely Nicola Dale, David Ogle and Nicola Ellis. More information about the artists can be found on the website

http://markdevereuxprojects.com/artists

Manchester International Festival

At the weekend I travelled to Manchester to visit the Manchester International Festival (MIF) and catch up with my good friends, artist Liz West and artist, curator and tutor, Mark Devereux (I will be blogging about their interesting work later on so keep a look out!)                                                                                                           

Our first stop was Piccadilly Place (http://www.piccadillyplace.co.uk/), a number of vacant multi functional spaces in the heart of the city centre. Mark explained that the office blocks had been built a number of years ago, but the large ground floor spaces have never been permanently filled due to the premium rental costs and so rather than leave the spaces empty, artists can hire them out for free. This seems a mutually beneficial scheme. Liz has booked one of the spaces for a show in September. While we were there one of the other spaces was being used as a gallery by artist Richard Shields.

Unlike Glasgow International festival of Visual Art which, as it's name suggests, concentrates on visual art, Manchester International Festival encompasses music, theatre, performance, visual art and more.

As we sat in Albert Square, the festival hub, live musicians provided cheerful rhythms. Local producers were offering high quality street food and stripy coloured deck chairs added to the summery vibe, enhanced by the glorious sunshine.

There was a cosmopolitan and continental feel to the city as we walked past graffitti artists working on walls, beautiful florists and unique cafes with outdoor tables and chairs.

After being shown a couple of Manchester's best art suppliers, (including the range of spray paints that Liz has currently been using in her work)

we headed to the Chinese Arts Centre (http://www.chinese-arts-centre.org/) where there is an exhibition by Jennifer Yang called First Step.

 I then headed to Mayfield depot, the disused railway station built more than a century ago. The expansive space was an idea setting for Martin Spangberg's "Epic", abstract artowkr in which nine dancers moved around an informal platform in weird and wonderful ways, reacting to each other, music being played and interacted with numerous objects surrounding them, all creating a vibrant and engaging landscape.

This dancer was pouring fluid onto glass sheets which reminded me of the breezeblock sized works I had made with coloured plaster at the Market Gallery.

The final artwork of the day was Tino Sehgal's "This variation", and what an artwork it was to end the day! 

As on the MIF website (http://www.mif.co.uk/event/tino-sehgal-this-variation),

  "This radical and immersive work plunges visitors into a pulsating sensory landscape, by turns enigmatic and recognisable. Taking advantage of the visitor’s own dilating pupils, This Variation constantly shifts perception, processing and transforming before eye and ear. "



Entering the pitch black room was rather daunting as I had no idea of the other people in the room or what was going to happen. Performers were constantly circulating the space, singing and making music of some kind. Gradually over the course of about 30 minutes, my eyes adapted, and by the end I was able to see the silouette of other people around me. It was a breathtaking experience.

Sources of inspiration while in Manchester