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/

Colin Stetson at MIF as part of Dark Matter, curated by Mary Anne Hobbs

I am a regular BBC Radio 6 Music listener, and one of my favourite DJs is Mary Anne Hobbs, who hosts a morning programme every Saturday and Sunday as well as the Thursday edition of 6 Music Recommends. It was a few months ago I that first heard Mary Anne Hobbs play the music of the American saxophonist and multireedist, Colin Stetson.

"Over the years Stetson has worked extensively live and in studio with a wide range of bands and musicians including Tom Waits, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, TV On The Radio, Feist, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Bill Laswell, Evan Parker, The Chemical Brothers, Animal Collective, Hamid Drake, LCD Soundsystem, The National, Angelique Kidjo, Fink, and David Gilmore. Meanwhile he has developed an utterly unique voice as a soloist, principally on saxophones and clarinets, his intense technical prowess matched by his exhilarating and emotionally gripping skills as a songwriter.

Stetson’ s astounding physical engagement with his instruments (chiefly bass and alto saxophones) produces emotionally rich and polyphonic compositions that transcend expectations of what solo horn playing can sound like. 

Stetson is equally at home in the avant jazz tradition of players who have pushed the boundaries of the instrument through circular breathing, embouchure, etc. (i.e. Evan Parker, Mats Gustafsson) and at the nexus of noise/drone/minimalist music that encompasses genres like dark metal, post-rock and contemporary electronics (i.e. Tim Hecker, Ben Frost – both of whom have mixed or remixed Stetson recordings)."

http://www.colinstetson.com/bio-1/

As part of the Manchester International Festival, Mary Anne Hobbs curated Dark Matter, "eight immersive shows from pioneering national, international and Manchester-based musicians." I was very fortunate that my visit to Manchester coincided with Colin Stetson's Dark Matter gig.

It was like nothing I have ever experienced before. The sounds produced felt like they were coming from an unearthly being, and Stetson has a way of making it seem like the instruments are part of his own anatomy. Using specialist circular breathing, he is able to sustain notes for a long period of time. I was really close to the front of the stage and was entranced by the strength it took just to hold the instruments, let alone play them in such an intense and prolonged fashion.

I would urge anyone who is on board for a totally unique sonic experience to check out Colin Stetson play live - it is something very special. But choose who you go with carefully - it is not easy listening and will challenge the ears!

To listen to highlights from Dark Matter at Manchester International Festival, including live tracks from Kojey Radical, Holly Herndon, Colin Stetson, Paleman and The Haxan Cloak, click the link below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xkzh5

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.

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.

Do It 2013 at Manchester Art Gallery

The strong smell pervading the whole of the gallery came from the gallery staff who were carrying out Rirkrit Tiravanija's instructions to make Thai curry paste.

Not quite sure whether or not the visitor could help with the chopping of the onion or grating of the ginger, and not being able to enjoy the curry paste produced in the gallery, I felt like I was only getting half an experience, and given the simplistic nature of the recipe, felt that reading the instructions alone would have done the job. Then again, it did smell good!

Another instruction, to create a grid on the floor (squares could be of any size) and place one red object in each of the squares., lost its impact due to the size of the grid. Rather than the whole room being gridded and filled with red objects, the artwork was confined to one corner of the large room.

Whereas these instructions had been performed by the gallery staff, some of the artworks such as Yoko Ono's uninspired wishing tree required audience participation. Similarly, another artwork instructed the viewer to take one of the shoe boxes from the pile in the gallery, fill it with objects of significance and then return to the gallery, placing it back on the pile. Unfortunately, as with the majority of other artworks that encouraged viewer participation, the outcome resembled nothing more than a pile of rubbish; graffitied boxes filled with a few exhibition leaflets, tissues and sweet wrappers.

I found the half-hearted attempts to follow the instructions an unnecessary and frustrating part of the exhibition and would rather have imagined the outcome having seen the written instructions.