Posts in Archive Category

Now in its fifth year the University of Salford Art Collection and School of Arts & Media Graduate Scholarship Programme, co-managed with Castlefield Gallery,  is gathering great momentum. We are thrilled to announce that we have selected our cohort for 2018/19 and look forward to working with them and watching them and their creative practices grow.

Sharing studio space at Islington Mill will be Jesse Glazzard from Fashion Image Making and Styling and Alena Donely from Visual Arts; fellow visual artists Sadé Mica and Katie McGuire will have studios at at Hot Bed Press and Paradise Works respectively.  Joshua Turner from Photography will undertake his Scholarship year with Redeye The Photography Network.

New to the Scholarship Programme this year we welcome on board new partner Mirabel Studios, who will be joined by visual artist Ovie Ist Kings Iruru.

On Tuesday 20th December 2017 Vice-Chancellor Helen Marshall and Steve Hassall, Chief Executive of Salford Community Leisure signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalising the growing partnership between both organisations.

Salford Community Leisure (SCL) manages forty venues on behalf of Salford City Council, including Salford Museum and Art Gallery which is at the heart of the University Peel Park campus, Ordsall Hall, and the city’s libraries.

The agreement is made in the wider context of an earlier MOU made between the city, University and Arts Council England; and as work continues on a joint Cultural Strategy for Salford.

This exciting collaboration builds on existing work, such as the recent What’s In Store?  exhibition of the University Art Collection at Salford Museum and Art Gallery. The agreement opens the way for the University and SCL to build on our shared strategic vision and to develop a range of projects and activities aimed at transforming the lives of people in Salford, including local outreach programmes, fundraising and opportunities to share best practice.

Lindsay Taylor, Art Curator and the University’s lead on the project said: I’m thrilled that we now have an official partnership in place with SCL. It is a great opportunity to extend our work with another local organisation and support our Industry Collaboration Zones (ICZ) agenda.

“It will enable us to action our shared ambitions and to work more effectively with other cultural partners such as the Working Class Movement Library and the many artists based in Salford. This is a fantastic opportunity to develop a thriving cultural ecology along the Crescent whilst keeping local people at the heart of everything we do.”

Steve Hassall, Chief Executive of Salford Community Leisure, said “This agreement paves the way for our organisations to do some great work together in enhancing the cultural experience for a range of audiences across the city. I look forward to seeing the results this partnership will bring over the coming months and years.”

We are pleased to announce that Mark Devereux Projects’ Studiobook 2017 artist Mandy Payne is the recipient our Commission to Collect award. Following on from her recent project based around the iconic Park Hill estate in Sheffield, Payne will be making a new painting considering the recent impacts the tragic Grenfell Tower incident has had upon Salford’s growing housing developments.

Cranes, scaffolding and industrial machinery are all common sites through Salford, as redevelopment of Manchester’s neighbouring city moves at a relentless pace. Following the devastating tragedy of 14 June 2017, a growing crisis has emerged over the issues of cladding new and existing buildings. Mandy Payne’s commissioned work will aim to highlight the plight of the affected residents during this political wrangling.

“Mandy’s proposal fits brilliantly within our ambition for the art collection to ‘tell the story of now’. Mandy’s painting will reflect a particular moment in-time in Salford – highlighting the plight, and somewhat impossible dilemmas facing both the council and the community regarding cladding. Though rooted in place, the work will speak to the growing national crisis of a deeply divided country. The painting will be a major new asset for the Collection.”  Lindsay Taylor, Art Curator, University of Salford Art Collection

Sheffield-based artist Mandy Payne has received wide acclaim for her works surrounding the Park Hill estate (Sheffield), with works being selected for the John Moores Painting Prize (2014 & 2016), the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (each year between 2014-17) and The Threadneedle Prize (2013). Focussed on locations that are in a transitional phase, overlooked or derided, Payne’s paintings aim to highlight the memories and experiences that these sites have or once had.

“I am thrilled to have been awarded the StudioBook Commission to Collect opportunity with the University of Salford Art Collection. Having spent an intensive fortnight with all the other applicants I was fully aware how stiff the competition was going to be. I am particularly excited about the project, as my proposal has strong links to my existing work but gives me the opportunity to experiment and develop it in a challenging new direction.”  Mandy Payne, StudioBook 2017 artist

As part of the Mark Devereux Projects’ StudioBook artist development programme, each of the twelve participating artists were encouraged to translate the wealth of information provided by the twenty-seven different speakers during the fortnight programme into an application for this opportunity.

“It was so difficult to make a decision this year as the standard of the proposals was incredibly high – everyone had clearly put into practice what they had learned at StudioBook. The variety of ideas, from live performance through to sculpture, video and installation also gave the selection panel much to debate and discuss. There were a number of proposals that we would like to have supported.”  Lindsay Taylor, Art Curator, University of Salford Art Collection.

Mandy Payne’s StudioBook 2017 Commission to Collect artwork will be unveiled as part of the launch of In Nothing Flat, featuring each of the twelve StudioBook 2017 artists. Taking place at Old Granada Studios, Manchester the exhibition will launch on Friday 3 November, continuing until Wednesday 15 November.

It was great to see in this month’s The Skinny  feature Best in (Degree) Show some of our recently selected Graduate Scholars were highlighted in the article: from Visual Arts Lubna Ali, Claudia Alonso and Elliott Flanagan and Tara Collette from Graphic Design.

The Skinny, ‘Best in (Degree) Show’, University of Salford, issue 45 July-August 2017

Our Graduate Scholarship Programme is a 12 month bespoke professional development programme open to applicants from all final year students from the School of Arts & Media.

The programme is an opportunity for graduating students to develop their skills and professional experience in the north west of England. The successful graduates receive financial support, mentoring and resources, such as studio space, to experiment and take risks with their creative practice within a supportive framework.

Our Graduate Scholarship Programme is a 12 month bespoke professional development programme open to applicants from all final year students from the School of Arts & Media.

The programme is an opportunity for graduating students to develop their skills and professional experience in the north west of England. The successful graduates receive financial support, mentoring and resources, such as studio space, to experiment and take risks with their creative practice within a supportive framework.

This year we are pleased to welcome six scholars on the Programme: from Visual Arts: Lubna Ali, Claudia Alonso and Elliott Flanagan; from Graphic Design Tara Collette; from Photography Jamal Jameel and from Creative Music Technology Fuchsia Summerfield.

Now in its fourth year the programme is run in collaboration with professional industry partners including ArtWork Atelier, Castlefield Gallery, Hot Bed Press, Islington Mill, Paradise Works, Redeye Photography Network and The International 3.

Samson Young’s One of Two Stories, or Both (Field Bagatelles) has featured in The Art Newspaper as one of three things to see at the Manchester International Festival.

One of Two Stories, or Both (Field Bagatelles) is a newly commissioned radio series and gallery installation inspired by tales of Chinese migrants, presented initially as part of Manchester International Festival 2017.

Currently representing Hong Kong at the 57th Venice Biennale, sound artist and composer Samson Young takes 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.

For further details on One of Two Stories, or Both (Field Bagatelles) see the exhibition page.

July (2017) sees the launch of two major projects from the the Art Collection team, working with CFCCA. These are programmed to mark the 20th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China.

All are welcome to attend the private view on Thursday 6 July 2017, 6 – 8pm. The exhibitions are open to the public Friday 7 July – Sunday 29 October.

From Ocean to Horizon

Artists: Kong Chun Hei, Sarah Lai, Au Hoi Lam, Tang Kwok-hin, Ocean Leung, Ko Sin Tung, Trevor Yeung

From Ocean to Horizon is a group exhibition featuring established and emerging creative talents from Hong Kong, most of whom have previously never exhibited in the UK, presenting unique perspectives on living and working in present-day Hong Kong.

For further details on From Ocean to Horizon see the exhibition page.

Samson Young: One of Two Stories, or Both (Field Bagatelles)

One of Two Stories, or Both (Field Bagatelles) is a newly commissioned radio series and gallery installation inspired by tales of Chinese migrants, presented initially as part of Manchester International Festival.

Currently representing Hong Kong at the 57th Venice Biennale, sound artist and composer Samson Young takes 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.

For further details on One of Two Stories, or Both (Field Bagatelles) see the exhibition page.

The resulting work takes the form of a two-screen ‘double’ digital video installation. This pixelated and seemingly fragmented re-imagining of Freud’s house reveals exactly what is there and what is ‘unseen’; the Kinect footage appears to bisect walls and reveal the obverse of the scene. Measuring the space through their bodily presence and a virtual ‘peeling back’ of the architectural layers, Brass Art create a dynamic exploration of the domestic interior as a site of creativity. Experienced binaurally, the soundscape evokes the intimacy of being in the space itself.

Shadow Worlds | Writers’ Rooms – Freud’s House was commissioned by the University of Salford Art Collection.

This month (July 2017) sees the launch of the Asia Research Network for Arts and Media (ARNAM); a quadripartite collaborative network between University of Salford, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Manchester.

Building on a wide range of activities already undertaken by the four participating organisations, ARNAM will be an interdisciplinary and intercultural network for the teaching, learning and research on Asia and its global diaspora. The network will provide a home, identity and strategic support for the high quality transcultural work undertaken by the founding organisations and their national and international partners in the field of arts and media.

We will keep you up-to-date with the work and developments by this network.

The Venice Biennale is arguably the most significant event in the visual art sector and next week our Art Curator Lindsay Taylor and Sam Ingleson, Academic Lead for Engagement and MA Art & Design Programme Leader, will be representing the University there. At the Biennial there will be the launch of our latest commission, Leviathan, by Shezad Dawood. Also launching are works by artists in, or about to be in our collection, who have been selected to represent their countries: Rachel Maclean for Scotland and Samson Young for Hong Kong.  Whilst in Venice Lindsay and Sam will also be supporting three of our MA Art and Design students who are at the Biennial having been awarded British Council Steward-Research Fellowships.

Episode 1: Ben of artist’s Shezad Dawood’s ten-part film cycle and written film series Leviathan was commissioned by University of Salford Art Collection and Leviathan – Human and Marine Ecology, with support from The Contemporary Art Society.   Episode 1 and two will be launched at the Venice Bienna as part of a unique solo exhibition.