Mediated Realities - When crisis becomes content: what's real anymore? - 01/09/2025-30/01/2026

Mediated Realities

New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery
University of Salford
1st September 2025 – 30th January 2026
Free entry, open to the public 10am – 4pm weekdays (excl bank holidays).

We see images of war, disaster and protest every day – but mostly through our screens. Filtered, streamed, and captioned: crisis arrives as content. But what does that do to our understanding of what’s real? Mediated Realities brings together bold, thought-provoking works from the University of Salford Art Collection and university staff. The exhibition explores artists’ approaches in an age of 24/7 news, social media, surveillance and digital noise.

Some, like Richard Hamilton and Joe Tilson, rework newspaper and TV imagery into powerful reflections on history. Others, including Thomson & Craighead, use data to expose how media shapes – and sometimes warps – our perspective of the world.

These works challenge us to stop doom scrolling and really look. Are we witnessing events or just watching them? Are we informed, or manipulated?

Artists include: Caitlin Griffiths, Richard Hamilton, Mishka Henner, Thomson & Craighead, Joe Tilson, G.Tucker, Sun Xun, Wu Yue.


Events:

– Wed 8th Oct, 4.30 – 7.00pm: Exhibition launch: preview and refreshments, all welcome.
– Wed 15th Oct, 1.00 – 2.30pm: Workshop: sustainable image-making with Lizzie King. Part of Go Green Salford, book now.

An install photograph of the 'Mediated Realities' exhibition in the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery. 2 people are photographed looking at Wu Yue's artwork; UoS AC Team Assistant and Curator of this exhibition; Sam Parker, wearing black pants, blue shoes, and a mustard yellow top - fluffy hair as per usual. Alongside him is artist Chrystal Cherniwchan, wearing beige pants, de-saturated purple shoes, and a blue waistcoat over beige t-shirt. The walls are painted a deep electric blue. Artwork - Wu Yue's "a transparent separation" (2020). These are framed 35mm anaolgue photographs taken in Wuhan during the Pandemic in 2020. There are 12 of these photographs in total filling the left wall in a grid-like-fashion.
An install photograph of the 'Mediated Realities' exhibition in the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery. The walls are painted a deep electric blue. From left to right there is: Artwork - Sun Xun's "A War About Chinese Words" (2005). A hand-drawn animation presented on a 42inch TV screen. The animation has a black background with simple white drawn images over the top. It gives the impression of chalk on a very black chalkboard. Artwork - Thomson & Craighead's "The War On Terror" (2016). This work is a small text work in a black frame. The text was written using a typewriter and shows the words "war hero torrent" change into "the war on terror" over 7 lines. The text is typed in black ink, however "the war on terror" line is in red. Artwork - Wu Yue's "a transparent separation" (2020). These are framed 35mm anaolgue photographs taken in Wuhan during the Pandemic in 2020. There are 12 of these photographs in total filling the left wall in a grid-like-fashion. Artwork - Thomson & Craighead's "Corruption" (2014). There are 2 of these lightboxes on the wall with a white cable coming down from the bottom left of each in a straight line. The lightboxes themselves show a glitched, corrupted video files with an eclectic mix of yellows, pinks, blues, and greens. Artwork - Mishka Henner's "Wasson Oil and Gas Field, Yoakum County, Texas" (2013-14). This is a huge photograph on the wall showing hundreds of stitched together satellite images. The images show the effect that the oil industry has had on the surrounding area - leading to the ground being all different shades of brown and muddy greens - the only white sections are where the oil drills are located - and there are hundreds of them filling the image. Artwork - Richard Hamilton's "Kent State" (1970). It is a screenprint framed in white. The image in this print was taken from televised news coverage of the Kent State University tragedy, broadcast on television by the BBC. The dominant colour is the black of the shadows and edges of the TV screen, with highlights of white on the ground and the body, de-saturated blues as a mid-tone, and red depicting the bullet wound. This is a wide shot image with a bench in the foreground.
An install photograph of the 'Mediated Realities' exhibition in the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery. The walls are painted a deep electric blue. From left to right there is: Artwork - Sun Xun's "A War About Chinese Words" (2005). A hand-drawn animation presented on a 42inch TV screen. The animation has a black background with simple white drawn images over the top. It gives the impression of chalk on a very black chalkboard. Artwork - Thomson & Craighead's "The War On Terror" (2016). This work is a small text work in a black frame. The text was written using a typewriter and shows the words "war hero torrent" change into "the war on terror" over 7 lines. The text is typed in black ink, however "the war on terror" line is in red. Artwork - Wu Yue's "a transparent separation" (2020). These are framed 35mm anaolgue photographs taken in Wuhan during the Pandemic in 2020. There are 12 of these photographs in total filling the left wall in a grid-like-fashion.
An install photograph of the 'Mediated Realities' exhibition in the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery. The walls are painted a deep electric blue. From left to right there is: Artwork - Thomson & Craighead's "Corruption" (2014). There are 2 of these lightboxes on the wall with a white cable coming down from the bottom left of each in a straight line. The lightboxes themselves show a glitched, corrupted video files with an eclectic mix of yellows, pinks, blues, and greens. Artwork - Mishka Henner's "Wasson Oil and Gas Field, Yoakum County, Texas" (2013-14). This is a huge photograph on the wall showing hundreds of stitched together satellite images. The images show the effect that the oil industry has had on the surrounding area - leading to the ground being all different shades of brown and muddy greens - the only white sections are where the oil drills are located - and there are hundreds of them filling the image. Then there are 2 A1 information panels on a separate wall detailing the exhibition, and some information about the University of Salford Art Collection.
An install photograph of the 'Mediated Realities' exhibition in the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery. The walls are painted a deep electric blue. From left to right there is: Artwork - Joe Tilson's "Clip-o-matic Che (Vallegrande, Bolivia, October 10th) (1969). This piece is a silkscreen with collage on paper, acetate and metalized polyester. It is framed and mounted in white. The work itself is a brightly coloured, pop art piece depicting a post-mortem photograph of Argentinian-born Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara (1928-1967). With bright orange, yellow, and purple, contrasted to the large black sections and white framing. Artwork - G. Tucker's "Monty". This is a screen-print depicting a pixilated version of Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein KG, GCB, DSO, PC, DL nicknamed "Monty". The piece is vibrant with rich tones of orange, yellow, blue, and contrasting deep charcoal greys and blues. This piece is also framed and mounted in white. In the centre of the image is the exhibition vinyl, which includes text and decorative linework. It reads "MEDIATED REALITIES" "When crisis becomes content: what's real anymore?" "01/09/2025 - 30/01/2025" Artwork - Caitlin Griffiths' "Love in Red & Blue" (2018). This is a video piece on a 65" TV screen. On the screen are 3 separate video feeds of the same 2 people asking each other questions in different locations. Subtitles also accompany this.

Install shots courtesy of Jules Lister

Mediated Realities is selected and co-curated by Art Collection Team Assistant Sam Parker, part of a two year traineeship role with the team.