i was young when i left home – 2012 in art

twelve months on from the last time i wrote about the year in art, i am going to open it with pretty much the same words. a lot has happened over the past 12 months, and i would not have been expecting to close the year out working at a national gallery, having left behind a city i had just been falling for. yet these things happen don’t they? it also means that over the course of 2012 i have shifted from spending my days in the most exciting new gallery around to working with a collection of major historic importance to this country and beyond. as i have continued to develop a relationship with the appreciation of art, here are a handful of shows which stood out for me over the course of 2012…

republic of the moon, fact

one of the first exhibitions which i saw this year, and easily one of the most enjoyable. here fact brought the moon to liverpool, with seven artists declaring their vision for lunar life. the standout work was definitely agnes meyer brandis’ the moon goose analogue, a fantastic project which followed the artist putting a team of geese through their training ready to fly to the moon. alongside the documentation of the training regime the artist had constructed a full lunar control room from which you could see the ‘astronauts’ at work on their moon base (also known as pollinaria in italy).

bill drummond: ragworts, site gallery

for this exhibtion dummond created a series of ‘scores’ which provided the soundtrack to the city of sheffield. placing words into a world without music, drummond created a new means for negotiating thoughts about the city, how it relates to the inhabitants, and visa versa. the scores were placed throughout the city, and led followers around sheffield, with instructions to say hello to birds along the way amongst other actions. seeing the scores together in the gallery space at site, all of a sudden the static words on the page became a passionate landscape vision of a city. this was truly wonderful.

heather & ivan morison, ben rivers and david thorpe – the hepworth wakefield

the first of two exhibitions from my former place of work, the spring 2012 group show brought together three displays looking at notion of utopia and apocalypse. i did enjoy david thorpe’s intricate cabinets and paintings, but this exhibition was really about the interplay between ben rivers’ film slow action and heather & ivan morison’s installation/object theatre/puppet performance anna. where rivers created/edited four forms of utopia, the morisons constructed a world in a state of assault from creeping ice based on anna kavan’s fiction. to have had the opportunity to work with these displays was an absolute joy.

louisa may parker – bank street arts

louisa may parker works with notions of drawing in a way very similar to an artist who appeared in this list last year, and i think that is one of the things which i saw in this display in one of the front rooms of bank street arts in sheffield. alongside a series of intricate and beautiful works on paper, the artist had installed table, book – a sculpture/drawing which consisted of a table, book and weight covered entirely in graphite.

jeremy deller: joy in people – the hayward gallery

i’m not sure that there is much to be said about jeremy deller which hasn’t already been said. ever since seeing his procession at manchester international festival in 2009, i have felt a connection with deller’s work – and more importantly the inspiration behind it. here is an artist who is more interested in the people he is making art about that creating some vaunted conceptual piece. this retrospective at the hayward gallery gathered together work from across the artist’s career, from a recreation of the exhibition he staged in his parents house through to the battle of orgreave (which was also shown at the wonderful s1 artspace this year).

stuart roy clarke: homes of football – national football museum

i have loved stuart roy clarke’s photography for a long time. family holidays as a kid tended to head towards the lake district, which for me was always a great things as it meant i could pester my dad to take me to the homes of football gallery in ambleside. kicking things off for the newly manchester-ed national football museum, clarke’s photography more than ever reminds me about why i love football, at a time when my attachment to the top/professional ranks of the game is growing weaker with each passing bout of silliness which is tearing football apart. much like deller’s art revolves around participants, clarke’s photography is about the things, and more importantly the people around football. don’t expect pictures of big name players engaged in prepared dance routines; this is football from the terraces, and for the terrace. a triumph. (oh, and did i mention that the display is soundtracked by british sea power?)

ansel adams: photography from the mountains and sea – national maritime museum

another display of photography, this time from one of the most iconic american photographers of the twentieth century. i think possibly the most affecting images in this exhibition are not the huge waterscapes for which adams is rightly famous, but actually the handful of photographs which were taken by a teenage adams, with a simple box brownie camera. the depth of image which he was capturing even at this stage when he was learning how photography worked is stunning.

richard long and luke fowler – the hepworth wakefield

my final pick of the year, and the second at the hepworth wakefield, includes two artists whose work always inspires me. to have had the chance to see both of them in action whilst installing their work, and get to have a chat with them only acted to confirm how much i love their work. in this display a selection of richard long’s works on paper were installed alongside three large scale floor pieces, one floor to ceiling wall drawing and a prototype grass sculpture. alongside these very physical pieces, luke fowler’s film the poor stockinger, the luddite cropper and the deluded followers of joanna southcott delved into the workers’ education association and the writing of e.p. thompson in and around yorkshire. the same traits of editing, sound and linear camera movement can be seen through this piece and fowler’s hugely well deserved turner prize nominated all divided selves. on face value it isn’t overly clear how well these two artists would complement each other in a gallery space, but the shift between the natural world and evolution of education was actually a real masterstroke.

the department of forgotten songs

testing. testing. yes, this is still working. apologies to anyone who reads this blog on a semi-regular basis, as there has been nothing to read recently. at the moment i am in the depths of dissertation research and writing as i come to the close of my museum studies masters course. rather than musing about going for a walk or an amazing piece of public art that i’ve seen i am spending my days pondering whether national museums outside london make any difference or not. the answer is yet to come.

however, that doesn’t mean that interesting things haven’t been happening. quite the opposite actually, which hasn’t been ideal for the afore mentioned research project. whilst the arts sector slumps underneath a foreboding cloud, manchester has been carrying on regardless. over the past month i’ve been part of three fantastic free events, all of which displayed the commitment to making this city a) interesting b) inclusive and c) a great place to live. whilst i’m not claiming to be the typical inhabitant of the city, but these events have appealed to a broad range of people, and most importantly were free to get involved in.

Photo - Rowena Scott/Hannah Nicklin

first up was the hazard festival, a loose collection of art/theatre events based around ideas of chance encounters, random occurences and risky ventures. my kind of thing. i took part in the terrific the smell of rain reminds me of you. local playwright/blogger hannah nicklin put together an audio soundscape, which guided about 30/40 people around piccadilly gardens, transforming a rare day of sunshine into a thought-provoking walk in the rain. those people just passing through the area on the way to get a bus were confused to say the least at the sight of this group of people, holding aloft white umbrellas, on seemingly random trajectories. this was a great thing to be involved in, part flashmob, part crowd sourced art. i left feeling relaxed, contented, and a touch emotional.

Photo - Rowena Scott/Hannah Nicklin

from audience-generated theatre to jazz. i can’t profess to knowing a massive amount about jazz, but i do try to listen to bits and bobs. manchester jazz festival recently took over the city for two weeks, though i think it went quite unnoticed by a number of people. working at one of the main venues significantly raised my own knowledge of the events, with the standout for me being the live radio 3 broadcast from band on the wall. again, i can’t claim to know what i’m talking about in terms of the music (i’m notoriously an indiepop fan) but the atmosphere in the venue was one of shared appreciation. to have a festival with huge amounts of free music, including the outdoor stage in st. anne’s square, can only be a good thing in my eyes.

Photo - Visit Manchester

lastly, an event which epitomises the inclusive nature of manchester. the manchester picnic was just that, a picnic, in manchester. amongst other areas piccadilly gardens and spinningfields were transformed into massive picnic areas, with the public encouraged to come and enjoy their lunch there. no hard sell (other than the free pack of crisps you may have been offered), no pressure to buy anything (other than the smell of the jerk chicken barbeque wafting over). just an act to encourage folks to engage with the city centre in a new way. i love events like this, which promote everything that makes me feel at home in the city. people sharing experiences, enjoying themselves, and most importantly remembering that manchester is bloody brilliant.

Photo - Visit Manchester

postscript – i would also like to say many thanks to the fine folks at creative tourist for the writing workshop which they invited me and a load of other great writers to the other week. it was a great chance to spend an afternoon with some creative people, and i’ve not stopped reading other people’s blogs since. i will do a full round up of what makes up my rss reader at some point, as there are some great reads out there.

eurocultured + dot to dot in photos – live

this post is meant to be on the pull yourself together website, but for some reason technology won’t let me do that. instead in a town so small presents a live photoblog of bank holiday monday in manchester.

1. butcher the boy – red deer club stage, eurocultured

2. live art, eurocultured
3. 0 events, eurocultured
4. breakdancing competition, main stage, eurocultured
5. mariee sioux, red deer club stage, eurocultured

6. francois and the atlas mountains, red deer club stage, eurocultured

7. sparrow and the workshop, red deer club stage, eurocultured
8. view from the red deer club stage, eurocultured
9. live art, eurocultured

10. sophies pigeons, red deer club stage, eurocultured (somewhere in there, big crowd!)

11. young british artists, red deer club, eurocultured

12. liars, club academy, dot to dot

13. wild beasts, academy 2, dot to dot (loads of smoke, terrible light)

14. beach house, club academy, dot to dot (packed!)

15. los campesinos, club academy, dot to dot
16. team ghost, deaf institute, dot to dot

wrapped up in books

as i write this entry there are twenty minutes left to poke around inside one of the most iconic buildings in manchester. as of the end of march, manchester central library is closing it’s doors, with plans in place for a redesign of the space, culminating in the re-opening of central library and city library (located in the town hall extension) in 2013. having opened in 1934 the central library quickly became a key building in manchester, sitting alongside the town hall and the town hall extension in one of the most striking and enjoyable parts of the city. i don’t think i’m alone in thinking that library walk, the sweeping curved passage way linking st. peter’s square with mount street, is one of the most beautiful parts of manchester – with the curvature of both buildings drawing you through.

one of the most intriguing parts of the library’s refurbishment is that all the pre-1850 and precious or special collections are being moved into an underground salt mine in cheshire for storage. this deepstore facility, which is also used by the national archives, is currently the size of 700 football pitches, and is naturally free of uv light, flooding and vermin, and has consistent levels of temperature and humidity.

i really like some of the stories which are knocking around about the library. anthony burgess, the author of a clockwork orange and earthly powers, was apparently seduced by a librarian over the card indexes, whilst morrissey was ejected from the language & literature library whilst holding an impromptu photo shoot.

i took some time out today to go and soak up the atmosphere of the building one last time before closing. the murmurs in the great hall will always be one of my favourite sounds in the city centre, with the great domed ceiling deadening, then echoing, the rustling of pages and whispered discussions in the massive reading room. whilst i was stood taking all of this in a fellow library user came to ask me where to find marketing books, as this was her first visit to the library. i politely told her i had no idea, and that i was in to take photos and have a walk around the library. whilst this seemed like a perplexing idea to her at first, i saw her again later (with a couple of useful books) and she had begun to realise the beauty of the building.

on a personal level, today was a great trip out for me as it was the third different library i had visited in manchester in as many days. having been over to north city library on monday to see a tiger, i was in the more drab surroundings of the university library on tuesday. as i’ve started, i’m probably going to try and make it five in as many days. obviously the john rylands library is always worth a visit, and i’ll more than likely write about that soon. any suggestions for my fifth of the week?

a brief guide to the history and architecture of the library

information on the library closure, including links to some interesting interviews and videos

ps – i have been experimenting with some different bits of photography in this set. as usual they are all shot on my phone, but have manipulated some with the tilt shift generator app. i’m also a bit disappointed with the photos i took of the shakespeare hall, which is why there aren’t any of the wonderful civic artwork that adorns the ceiling in that space.