Contemporary Visual Arts Manchester Metropolitan University
The contemporary visual arts have made Britain the centre of the art world in the last ten years. The gallery culture in cities such as Newcastle, Liverpool (soon to be City of Culture), and Manchester have made the North the equal of other major European regions.
From the many art schools and departments in the region, around 2000 art graduates emerge every year, many of whom choose to live and work in the North, drawn by the affordable studios and increasing art infrastructure.
Centrifuge - Contemporary Visual Arts
Twenty early career artists, curators and writers working in the contemporary visual arts field and based in the North of England, have been selected to participate in Centrifuge. Centrifuge will culminate in the organisation of a cross-regional contemporary art project realised across the north early in 2008. The twenty selected participants will take part in a visit to Documenta 12, Kassel, Germany in August 2007, where they will work with artists Imogen Stidworthy and Dirk Fleischmann to develop and refine the cross-regional project.
Dirk Fleischmann is an artist based in Frankfurt am Main. He has held solo exhibitions at rraum, Frankfurt am Main (2005) and Alternative Space Pool, Seoul (2007). He has been represented in numerous group exhibitions including Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie (Gasworks, London, 2007), Rendez-Vous (Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, France, 2005) and Manifesta 4, Frankfurt (2002).
Imogen Stidworthy is an artist based in Liverpool. She has had solo exhibitions at Matt’s Gallery, London (2003) and Frac Bourgogne, France (2005). She has also made work for Dunstable Downs and De Grey Mausoleum, Bedfordshire as part of Contemporary Art for Historic Places (2005). Her work is included in Documenta 12.
The Salford Restoration Office is a curatorial and educational agency based in Greater Manchester, run by James Hutchinson and Lesley Young. They are currently developing a solo show by artist Dan Shipsides for Castlefield Gallery, Manchester. Independently, Young has worked with protoacademy (Edinburgh) and artists Yael Bartana and Unnar Jónasson; Hutchinson with floating ip (Manchester) and The Internationaler magazine.
Centrifuge is devised and administered by The Salford Restoration Office on behalf of Manchester Metropolitan University as part of the Northern Way funded Northern Edge initiative.
View the profiles and some of the work by the twenty artists,curators and writers selected to take part in a visit to the Documenta Exhibition in Kassel, Germany this summer.
