PAPER #15: Unstable Ground @ Paper Gallery, Manchester

PAPER in Manchester opens a new exhibition this week, Unstable Ground, which attempts to 'consider how drawing methods are related to experiences of autobiographical memory.' Bringing together eight artists, the exhibition features some very hot names of the moment such as Turner Prize nominee George Shaw, known for his painted details and landscapes of suburbia, Laura Oldfield Ford, who most recently was included in Ruin Lust at Tate Britain, and Lisa Wilkens, who exhibited in the large survey show Paper at Saatchi Gallery in 2013.

The artists in Unstable Ground have a variety of different relationships with the exhibitions concept, from Stephen Walter and Oldfield Ford’s urban mappings to Annabel Dover and Lisa Wilkens’ ‘drawn out’ relationship with the memories of personal objects and places. For his work in the exhibition, Simon Woolham has undertaken a virtual memory walk with each artist. Using Google Earth and Skype, and starting at the home where the artist grew up, Woolham journeyed through time and space, guided by the memories that are drawn out and unfold. This online experience is used as a curatorial tool with his fellow artists, and is presented as a series of videos that unravel the autobiographical and artistic details around why the artists are working in a particular way.

This is the 15th exhibition mounted by PAPER who are well programmed up until April 2015. A particular highlight comes in January 2015 with PAPER#18, a solo exhibition from Liverpool-based Frances Disley. 

Unstable Ground opens on 31 Jul and runs until 13 Sep. The gallery is open every Saturday 11am-5pm.

PAPER, Unit 12, Mirabel Studios, 14-20 Mirabel Street, Manchester, M3 1PJ