A day of discussions and workshops with innovators in the field, including national and regional agencies, curators and artists involved in international cultural exchange.

University of Salford Art Collection, in partnership with Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) and Open Eye Gallery invite you to a day of talks and discussions inspired by the exhibition PRESENCE: A Window into Chinese Contemporary Art, part of the China Dream season in Liverpool. The exhibition showcases the University of Salford collection of Chinese contemporary art which was formed mainly in collaboration with CFCCA, and which is available for loan to museums and art galleries.

The event is aimed at curators, directors, artists, students, writers and funders who are interested in learning more about contemporary culture from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the diaspora, and who might be looking to develop exhibitions, commissions or collaborations in the UK or internationally.

Held in the historic St George’s Hall, morning sessions will include representation from Open Eye Gallery, CFCCA, University of Salford Art Collection, amongst others (see programme outline below). The afternoon will include further talks followed by participation in a choice of discussion groups about how to collaborate in the UK and China.

Date: Friday 11 May 2018, 9.30am – 4pm
Venue: Court Room, St. George’s Hall, entrance via the Heritage Centre on St. John’s Lane, Liverpool
Admission: £25 general admission and £18 students / artists. Lunch will be provided. Bookings via Eventbrite.

There are also options to attend the private view of Shen Xin at CFCCA in Manchester on Thursday 10 May from 6.00pm and/or visit the exhibition Snapshot to WeChat: A Migration of Identity at Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool.

PRESENCE: A Window on Engaging with Chinese Contemporary Art and Culture is produced by University of Salford Art Collection, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and China Dream (part of Liverpool 2018).

Programme for the Day

9.30 am Registration, Tea and coffee on arrival

10.00 am Welcome to China Dream by Robin Kemp, Head of Creative Development, Culture Liverpool

10.05 am Welcome and introduction to event by Lindsay Taylor, Curator, University of Salford

10.10 am       Session one: Commissioning and Collecting Chinese Contemporary Art for University of Salford Art Collection and beyond

• Lindsay Taylor, Curator, University of Salford Art Collection and co-curator of PRESENCE
• Professor Jiang Jiehong, Birmingham City University, and curator of This is Shanghai, part of China Dream
• Marianna Tsionki, Curator, Centre For Chinese Contemporary Art  (CFCCA) and University of Salford
• Thomas Dukes, Curator, Open Eye Gallery
• Olivia Heron, Assistant Curator, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA)
• Jennifer Ellis, Head of Projects and Development, Edouard Malingue Gallery

11.20 am       Coffee break and networking

11.40 am       Session Two: Introducing Chinese art into the UK context

• Zoe Dunbar, Director, CFCCA
• Fiona Philpott, Director of Exhibitions, National Museums Liverpool, currently exhibiting China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors
• Sunny Cheung, Assistant Curator, Liverpool Biennial
• Amira Gad, Curator, Serpentine Gallery
• Jamie Wyld, Founder, videoclub

12.45              Lunch, tea and coffee

13.15/13.25   Optional introductory tour of PRESENCE exhibition or St. George’s Hall

13.45              Session Three: Working with China, Maximising Resources

• Sarah Fisher, Director, Open Eye Gallery and partner in China Dream
• Emma Coleman, Programmes Manager, Art Fund
• Ying Tan, British Council, and former Curator of CFCCA
• Nicola Smyth, Senior Manager International, Arts Council England
• Professor Juan Cruz, Royal College of Art, Trustee of John Moores Liverpool Exhibition Trust which instigated John Moores Painting Prize (China) and the International Awards for Art Criticism (IAAC)

14.15              Session Four: Two concurrent workshop ‘sharing’ sessions (Select one):

For each workshop a small number of invited guests will briefly share their experiences before opening up to discussion. Delegates are invited to suggest topics or questions in advance.

• Group A. Approaches to working in or with China

This session is aimed at those who have no, or limited experience of working with or in China and who would like to learn more. Chaired by Nicola Smyth, Arts Council England. Invited guests include:

• Stephanie Fletcher, Assistant Curator, University of Salford Art Collection
• Professor Andy Willis, Film Studies, University of Salford
• Sian Bonnell, Reader in Photography, Manchester Metropolitan University

• Group B. Establishing collaborations with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan: Networks, Partnerships and Strategy

This session is aimed at those who have some experience of working in or with China and who are looking to build collaborations. Chaired by Professor Juan Cruz, Royal College of Art. Invited guests include:

• Tiffany Leung, Curator, CFCCA
• Sarah Perks, Artistic Director: Visual Arts, HOME
• Sam Ingleson, Associate Dean: Engagement, Enterprise and Partnerships, University of Salford

15.15              Session Five: Choose from:

• Tour of PRESENCE exhibition with Stephanie Fletcher.
• Tour of Snap Chat to We Chat and China Connections at Open Eye Gallery with Thomas Dukes.
• Meet the speaker sessions – an opportunity to meet with some of the speakers from the day to ask questions, or to network.

16.00              End

Sliced Units is an exhibition of three films at Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) by award winning artist Shen Xin, which includes the international debut of Warm Spell, a new co-commission and joint acquisition by University of Salford Art Collection and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA).

The three short films, Warm Spell (2018), Provocation of the Nightingale Channel 1 (2017) and Snow Country (2013), use different techniques to create fictionalised spaces where discussion on complex political issues plays out.  The Sliced Units of the exhibition title refers to the different positions represented in each film, from layering and interweaving different images and film styles to scripted performance.

In Warm Spell a haunting and ghostly presence is introduced alongside images from Ko Yao Yai, Thailand. The film uses slicing techniques to create a narrative about climate change and the disparity between high emission countries that are most immune to its effects, and countries (such as Thailand) that rely heavily on natural resources yet are facing more imminent threats.

Warm Spell is a new co-commission by MIMA and the University of Salford Art Collection. The work will enter both institutions’ holdings through a joint acquisition. It is also supported by The Elephant Trust London, and completed during Shen Xin’s residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.

Event: FILM FOCUS: SHEN XIN PRESENTS
Thursday 28 June 2018, 6pm – 8pm
Venue: CFCCA, Manchester
Admission: Tickets £4, include a glass of wine or tea on arrival

To coincide with her exhibition at CFCCA, Sliced Units, award-winning artist Shen Xin presents two short films by Sarai Kirshner and Tulapop Saenjaroen. These two short films were handpicked by Shen as they relate to her own films and art practice.

The screening will be followed by a Q and A with Shen Xin and Sarai Kirshner whose film is featured.

Exhibition dates: Friday 11 May – Sunday 1 July 2018
Opening hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm
Venue: CFCCA, Manchester
Admission: Free

A collaboration between Critical & Contextual Studies in the School of Arts and Media and the University of Salford Art Collection.

Embody reflects a post-millennial revaluation of identity and features a selection of students’ written and visual works from Independent Research Project 2018, exploring themes of the body, gender, personal expression and equality.

Established creative practitioners from our collection who address similar themes, namely Albert Adams, Hazel Clegg, Louise Giovanelli and Sarah Hardacre have be paired with the students’ work. The exhibition demonstrates the relationship between research, self-reflection and the creative process in communicating ideas about who we are and where we might be going.

Open to staff, students and public. Free to attend.

Launch event: Thursday 3 May 2018, 4 – 6pm
Exhibition dates: Monday 30 April – Friday 15 June 2018
Opening hours: Monday – Friday, 10am – 4pm.
Venue: New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery, University of Salford, M5 4BR
Admission: Free

Visual Arts Graduate and current Graduate Scholar Claudia Alonso is exhibiting in a group exhibition A Rubbish Night in the Museum. The artwork and accompanying research in this exhibition seeks to question and challenge how we deal with our rubbish.

Launch night: Thursday 19 April 2018, 6 – 9pm; will include readings, panel discussions and food.
Admission: Free, for catering purpose please register on the event page.
Exhibition continues: Friday 20 – Sunday 22 April 2018, 10am -5pm
Venue: Manchester Museum, 3rd Floor.

Funded by the Haworth Charitable Trust

Thanks to support from the Haworth Charitable Trust, the School of Arts & Media re-introduced life drawing to the curriculum in 2015 and this exhibition showcases some of the work that has been produced through the life drawing classes.

The Series has ensured that students from a range of programmes including Visual Arts, Fashion Design, Animation, Graphic Design and Computer Games Design can develop this key artistic skill at their own pace and reflect this new knowledge and understanding in their work. The sessions used different models, a variety of poses and encouraged students to use pencil, charcoal, pastel and paint to represent the human form. This small selection showcases work from some of the participants.

The Haworth Life Drawing Prize, a travel bursary of £750.00, was awarded to Visual Arts student Richard Benbow at the exhibition preview alongside the second place price of £150 to Munty Chowdhury and a third prize of £100 to Helena Worthington. The awards were judged upon the quality of the drawings/paintings in the students’ wider portfolios, their development of skills and their active participation to the life drawing classes.

The Haworth Life Drawing Series 2018 is dedicated to the memory of Jeremy Haworth.

The Haworth Charitable Trust

‘The Haworth Trust, a registered charity, was established 28 years ago. Its primary aim is to give financial assistance to deserving young people with exceptional talent who are determined to make a career in the arts, particularly in painting or music. It has a particular interest in assisting people located in the northern counties of England.’

Preview: Friday 13 April 2018, 4 – 6pm. All welcome.

Exhibition dates: Friday 13 April – Friday 2 November 2018
Opening hours: Viewings outside of the preview are by appointment only; contact artcollection@salford.ac.uk
Venue: Council Chamber, Old Fire Station, University of Salford, The Crescent, Salford
Admission: Free

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of The Representation of the People’s Act, brought in to reform the electoral system in Great Britain.  Enfranchising women over 30 who met minimum property qualifications, the Act marked a key stage in the continuing journey towards universal suffrage.

Previewing on Thursday 8 March; International Women’s Day, and as part of Manchester’s Wonder Women Festival, this exhibition will include newly commissioned work by Ruth Barker and Hannah Leighton-Boyce. University of Salford Chancellor and ‘writer in residence’, the award-winning writer of fiction, poetry and plays Professor Jackie Kay MBE, will also write a commissioned poem inspired by the exhibition.

Paired by Castlefield Gallery, both women’s practice sees them undertake in-depth research projects with the artists often embedding themselves in communities to explore people and place. New work for this exhibition has been made during 2017 when Castlefield Gallery supported Ruth Barker (Glasgow) and Hannah Leighton-Boyce (Manchester) to undertake research residencies: Leighton-Boyce in Scotland with Glasgow Women’s Library, and Barker in Salford with the University of Salford and University of Salford Art Collection. Over the course of the year Barker and Leighton-Boyce have exchanged many ideas, thoughts and stories, in particular through conversation and letters. New works will premiere at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, before touring in 2019 to Glasgow Women’s Library, and acquisition into our Art Collection.

Barker primarily works in performance and performative-writing, and has an on-going engagement with the ‘voice’. As a mother of two young children, she is clear that her recent experience of traumatic birth precedes but does not define her new body of work If this is the last thing that I say.

The central figure in If this is the last thing that I say is an ambiguous ‘pulley- woman’, a (ready-made) clothes pulley standing in for Barker’s absence. Alongside other works, this becomes a way for Barker to talk about her own mortality and an anxiety around motherhood, illness, physical vulnerability. Brutal world politics, and the economic conditions of contemporary Britain are, Barker feels, rapidly coalescing to render her publicly mute.

If this is the last thing that I say will come together through an assemblage of spoken word and sound, and will include wall based fabric works, and sculptural objects. A black fabric performance costume hung up to dry alongside an incomplete papier mâché female torso – suggesting nothing more than an ineffectual Winged Victory, while a ‘rug’ depicting a child’s drawing of the face of the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar.

Children from Salford’s Clarendon Road Primary School will be recorded performing a sonic meditation inspired by the founder of “Deep Listening”, the late Pauline Oliveros, in the University of Salford’s Anechoic Chamber (a room designed to absorb all sound, rendering the room completely silent). The audio recording will be accompanied by the sound of Barker’s own breath works, infant babble, and performed monologue.

The rug work will be made using specialist production techniques at the University of Salford’s fibre workshop with artist assistant Alena Donely.

Leighton-Boyce explores historical narratives through site-specific actions, sculpture, drawing, sound and installation.

Leighton-Boyce describes her recent residency with Glasgow Women’s Library as having a profound effect on herself and her work.  She states – “What I realised, or was reminded of on my last trip to Glasgow, was how recent personal experiences connect to the works I am developing; how trauma, loss, healing, reflection have informed decisions and conflated with the themes around the works. The library has been a place where I could feel vulnerable but also supported, where I could let thoughts settle amongst the books I was reading and items in the archive, and to reflect on these through different conversations”.

During her residency the welcoming embrace of the library especially struck Leighton-Boyce, and new works for the exhibition take inspiration from a large circular table centrally placed in Glasgow Women’s Library, one used for meetings, tea, lunch breaks and conversation.

For Leighton-Boyce the table was reminiscent of the round table in the house of Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the British suffragette movement (now the Pankhurst Centre), which was the birthplace of the Women’s Social and Political Union; and ‘The Table of Sentiments’, a domestic parlour table used by American suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton to draft ‘The Declaration of Women’s Rights’ at Seneca Falls in 1848.

Her new works will echo her experiences, specifically through her decision to work with salt, drawing on its inherent properties of healing, energy, and the charge of ‘coming together’ she experienced at Glasgow Women’s Library.

In developing her work, Leighton-Boyce entwines ideas and materials, echoing the physical imprints and human presence, the traces of labour and emotion. Her research led her to explore salt as a metaphor for both the physical extraction process of researching and the laboured mind, singular and collective; of form and fluidity, of resistance and preservation.

As with Barker’s work, historical narratives have informed and will be present in the new works. In reflecting on the multiple bodies that form the body of the archive and the importance of looking back, Leighton-Boyce references the story of Lot’s (unnamed) Wife who was turned to a pillar of salt because she defied the angels and turned to look back on the burning cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:26). The powerful new body of salt-inspired and made works will signal the presence of the body; the blood, sweat and tears of the mind, body and soul.

A co-commissioned with Castlefield Gallery and University of Salford Art Collection. With special thanks to Clarendon Road Primary School.

Exhibition dates: Thursday 9 March – Sunday 29 April 2018
Exhibition opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 1pm – 6pm
Venue: Castlefield Gallery, 2 Hewitt Street, Manchester, M15 4GB
Admission: Free

As part of his Graduate Scholarship Programme with Redeye, The Photography Network, Jamal Jameel is exhibiting in POSITIONS OF POWER a Liverpool based installation and exhibition.

The exhibition is by the Disparity Collective who are currently partaking in Lightbox 2017/18 Redeye’s intensive year-long course, which launches the careers of professional photographers through workshops, networking sessions and support from experts in the photography industry. The programme is designed to challenge assumptions, encourage reflection and nurture artistic potential, with collaboration at its core and guidance from group mentor, Kate Jesson, Curator at Manchester Art Gallery.

Launch night: Friday 23 March 2018, 7pm onwards
Exhibition tour by Kate Jesson: Saturday 24 March 2018 2pm
Q&A with artists: Sunday 25 March 2018 2pm
Exhibition dates: Friday 23 March – Thursday 28 March 2018, 11am – 4pm
Venue: The Tapestry, 12 – 14 Gildart Street, Liverpool, L3 8ET
Admission: Free

Music graduate and Graduate Scholar alumni Joe Beedles will be performing at an evening of audio-visual performances to launch Future Sessions, at Whitworth Art Gallery‘s Grand Hall, featuring local and international artists curated by Sean Clarke of Test Card. Future Sessions puts on cutting edge performances in unusual spaces and is presented by FutureEverything.

Video of one of the pieces Joe will be performing at the launch evening.

Date: Wednesday 21 March 2018, 8 – 11pm
Venue: The Whitworth, Manchester
Admission: Chargeable, visit event page for details.

Free Curator Tours:
Exhibition tours led by PRESENCE curators Stephanie Fletcher and Lindsay Taylor.
Friday 13 April
Wednesday 25 April
Thursday 17 May
Thursday 31 May
All tours will start at 2pm on the stated dates.
Venue: The vaults, St. George’s Hall, entrance via the Heritage Centre on St. John’s Lane, Liverpool

Exhibition details

Artists: aaajiao, Li Binyuan, Suki Chan, Chou Yu-Cheng, Luke Ching, Cao Fei, Han Feng, Chen Hangfeng, Kong Chun Hei, Wang Ningde, susan pui san lok, Ma Qiusha, Tian Taiquan, Wu Chi-Tsung, Annie Lai Kuen Wan, Yan Xing, Lu Xinjian, Sun Xun, Chen Ching-Yuan

Our complete New Collection of Chinese Contemporary Art is exhibiting in the vaults of St George’s Hall, Liverpool as part of the citywide China Dream season. PRESENCE: A Window into Chinese Contemporary Art offers a contemporary view of Chinese culture to complement China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors, at the World Museum, Liverpool.

PRESENCE features work by 19 artists giving a unique window into 21st century artistic practice across China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the diaspora. The artists included cover a range of themes including consumerism, technology, connectivity and the individual’s place in the world today.The sculptures, paintings, installations, videos and photographs are installed throughout the vaults in St George’s Hall, including some intriguing spaces not normally open to the public.

The New Collection of Chinese Contemporary Art has been developed largely in partnership with the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art in Manchester, but also with Liverpool’s Open Eye Gallery.

As we are installing the exhibition we are seeing the individual works in a new light, and can fully appreciate the breadth and importance of our evolving collection. What links these two exhibitions is the desire to tell human stories and to reflect on different periods of history. If China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors Exhibition presents the culture from 2000 years ago, PRESENCE looks to the future and tells a story of the ‘now’.  University of Salford  Art Collection Curator, Lindsay Taylor

Chinese contemporary art has become an indispensable component of global art. By promoting, showing, researching, disseminating and collecting, the University of Salford and CFCCA play an important role in the interaction and communication between Chinese and British contemporary art. I look forward to showing my work to audiences in Liverpool.  Artist Cao Fei. Haze and Fog and La Town by Cao Fei will screen in the PRESENCE exhibition.

PRESENCE: A Window into Chinese Contemporary Art exhibition catalogue. 

PRESENCE: A Window into Contemporary Chinese Art, Family Trail Activity

Exhibition dates: Friday 9 February – Sunday 3 June 2018. Closed Easter weekend (Friday 30 March – Sunday 1 April).
Additional opening: Tuesday 3 April, 10am – 5pm.
Exhibition opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday 10am – 5pm
Venue: The vaults, St. George’s Hall, entrance via the Heritage Centre on St. John’s Lane, Liverpool
Admission: Free

Our most recent co-commission for the Collection is The Scar, a fiction film installation by Noor Afshan Mirza and Brad Butler.

Weaving together conspiracy, gangster, noir, politics, crash theory, fantasy and reality, The Scar sees four unlikely associates – Yenge, the former beauty queen, state assassin Reis, anxious politician Ağa and chief of police Kaptan – sharing a car, headed along a mysterious road and bound together by power and corruption.

The story unfolds over three films and through Yenge’s narrative, culimating in a powerful and intriguing glimpse at a world breaking free of the patriarchy through a gender revolution.

Watch the trailer here

The Scar is commissioned by FLAMIN Productions through FILM LONDON Artists’ Moving Image Network with funding from Arts Council England in partnership with HOME & no.w.here with support from University of Salford Art Collection, Spectre Productions, Delfina Foundation, Centre national des arts plastiques France, Edith-Russ-Haus Germany, and àngels barcelona.

Preview: Friday 9 February 2018. Gallery open 6 – 9pm, after which there will be live performance in the ground floor cafe-bar from 9pm until late in response to the exhibition themes.
The exhibition continues until Monday 2 April 2018.
Venue: HOME, Manchester
Opening Times: Monday: Closed, except for Bank Holidays; Tuesday – Saturday: 12 – 8pm and Sunday 12 – 6pm
Admission: Free