Art in Greater Manchester: June 2016
It’s all about techno techno this month. Not Dutch Eurodance (though that would make a great theme) but the exploration of technology and its intersections with art and culture, as Manchester is halfway through its year as European City of Science
Adventures in sci-art
To get started, head over to The Koffee Pot for some sci-art from recent Manchester School of Art graduate Cat Scott (exhibition runs until 22 Jun). The artist/designer is presenting new digital designs based on the colliding and merging of dark matter and how we can represent abstract ideas of black holes. You can also eat some nice grilled cheese while you ponder these universal questions.
If you like to be followed around a gallery by a strange little robot then you have just a few days left to catch The Imitation Game at Manchester Art Gallery, which includes a super video by Tove Kjellmark, Naked (2009), in which a cute robotic furry panda has an operation to remove all of its skin. If you can’t make the exhibition, watch it on Vimeo here and prepare to be a little heartbroken.
Rogue Studios celebrates 15 years
As part of Manchester History Festival, Rogue Studios will be staging an exhibition of twelve artists responding to the history of their gaff, Crusader Mill (2016 is the last year of Rogue Studios in this particular building), from 4 to 12 June. The launch is on Saturday 4 June (1-3pm) with performances by Nicola Dale, Joe Hancock and Mary Stark alongside footage from the North West Film Archive and a screening of Manchester filmmakers Gravel and Sugar’s The Art of Work.
Tram it to Bury
Closing soon is Bury Sculpture Centre’s exhibition of Dutch artist Auke de Vries, a leading figure in public art in the Netherlands. His work has a light Tinguely feel and even his sculptures and maquettes look like drawings. Two new exhibitions have also just opened in the art gallery: Contemporary Australian Drawing, which brings together 84 artists' work, and Illuminating configurations : re forming the line; edges, splats and cuts (good title), an exhibition from Irene Barberis. Both those shows run until 13 August.
Highlights Elsewhere
HOME has just celebrated its first anniversary alongside its main gallery exhibition, Imitation of Life: Melodrama and Race in the 21st Century, which explores the performance of racial politics in a digital world and is on until 3 July. You can also find Designs for Living: Claire Dorsett and Cherry Tennesen – an exhibition in the Granada Galleries and around HOME’s public spaces (runs until 12 Jun).
At Touchstones Rochdale, a couple of projects/shows are closing on 11 June that are worth a look in. Hannah Leighton-Boyce has created a sound-work based on the museum’s collection of historic hand tools, and you can also see the work of five artist/makers in the Jerwood Makers Open which awards grants to emerging talents in applied art and craft to realise significant new projects.
Last but not least: Degree shows!
Manchester School of Art degree shows run from 11 to 26 June (Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat-Sun 10am-4pm). You can download a handy map of the shows from art.mmu.ac.uk/degreeshow to help navigate the multiple sites.
The Salford degree shows will be running at the Allerton campus from 10 to 17 June (excluding 12 June), 10am-4.30pm. salford.ac.uk/create2016
Find more previews and exhibition reviews at theskinny.co.uk/art