Launching in June 2012 the Manchester Art Walks are bi monthly, after hours, whistle stop tours of a hand picked selection of the top exhibitions happening in Manchester and Salford.
Manchester Art Walks will incorporate usually three exhibitions happening in close proximity to each other, including exhibitions at the cities larger venues, smaller galleries, artists studios and pop-up spaces. At each venue there will be an introduction to the exhibition from the curator, artist or member of gallery staff. The walks will be fun, friendly, informal events and perfect for anyone interested in discovering more of Manchester and Salford’s visual arts scene.
The first Manchester Art Walk will take place on Wednesday 27 June. At a little over a mile long the walk will visit three venues that are all part of We Face Forward, a huge city-wide series of exhibitions and events exploring the links between Manchester and West Africa as part of the London 2012 cultural festival.
Beginning in the reception area of The Manchester Museum at 5:30pm we will hear about the display of artworks, printed stories and museum objects, the result of The Manchester Museum working with the African Caribbean Carers group and artist Alan Birch to develop a re-interpretation of the Anansi Spider Stories, a popular character in West African and Caribbean folklore.
The walk will then go to the Whitworth Art Gallery where there will be an introduction the major new commission by Pascale Marthine Tayou, entitled The World Falls Apart, an interior forest populated by masks and sculptures, that spills out into the neighbouring park.
And finally at the Platt Hall, Gallery of Costume there will be an introduction to the photographs by Malick Sidibé, Abderramane Sakaly, Soungalo Malé and Hamidou Maiga that are being shown alongside contemporary fashion pieces designed by British-Nigerian designer Duro Olowu. All four photographers’ works show how Mali re-envisioned the idea of the studio portrait in the second half of the twentieth century, giving a West African twist to the art form. Olowu has achieved great recognition in the world of fashion, winning New Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2005. He references his African heritage in vibrant, bold, graphic prints, exotic colours and patchwork techniques.
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Event: Wednesday 27 June 2012, 5.30 – 7.30pm
Website: http://manchesterartwalk.wordpress.com
Cost: £4 purchase tickets from http://manchesterartwalk.eventbrite.co.uk
Additional information about the individual exhibitions: http://www.wefaceforward.org
Manchester Art Walk has been initiated and coordinated by Jennifer Dean.
Tags:
Art Exhibitions
