CityLife

Community the focus at Castlefield Gallery

COMMUNITY THEMES: An exhibit from One and All

INSPIRED by a chat with Community Network For Manchester, One And All takes a revealing look at life in the urban environment.

It exposes a confused and broken set of links – in communications, the collective consciousness, identity and community – and throws up complicated questions about isolation, nostalgia and our understanding of culture.

“How does art relate to other realms of life, how do artists go about working in this environment and who is seen as an artist nowadays?” asks Alison Kershaw, curator of One And All, now open at Castlefield Gallery.

“As part of my connections with voluntary and community groups I was introduced to Community Networks For Manchester, and that’s why I initiated this project.

“I realised quite soon that the sector is quite a difficult thing to understand because it links various different themes, like transport, the environment, children, and health.

“But I was sure artists would be interested in these themes and looking at how they operate in a city.”

An open call for contributions attracted 25 entries, which Alison whittled down to seven to reflect the biggest topics affecting communities.

The individual pieces first went on show at seven venues across Manchester, but the Castlefield exhibition brings them together for the first time, throwing up a whole new set of interpretations.

The artists, who are all from the north west, are: Grennan & Sperandio, Jo Lewington, Jil Moore (N.B. Jil, not Jill), Hafsah Naib, Joe Richardson, William Titley and Andrew Wilson. The set of fully commissioned work is united in its interrogation of community networks and urban regeneration.

Metaphor

“Jil Moore is interested in the rush hour as a metaphor for network links and how the individual is carried along by the swarm of the city, Jo Lewington’s piece is a harsh film about factory work filmed with head cameras, so it’s quite disorientating, but more specifically her response is how we’re all put in a routine,” Alison continues.

“Grennan & Sperandio’s paintings bring the idea of the authenticity of painting. He took himself into specific areas to see if he could have a psychic response.

"His subtly-ltered digital photographs were then sent to China to be rendered in oils and interpreted thousands of miles away, emphasising that sense of distance.”

Andrew Wilson’s dysfunctional, Monopoly-like game – Socio-organi-gram of CN4M and its environs – maps cultural links and the impact of their role in a confusingly humorous, playable format.

William Tilley’s reworked dustbin is a sculpture full of tiny environments, and Hafseh Naib’s TV piece simultaneously plays footage of people who donated TVs to the project on the TV they donated, creating a virtual conversation.

“Although it’s specific to Manchester,” concludes Alison. “You could look at this work everywhere and it would still have the same resonance.”

One and All is at Castlefield Gallery, Hewitt Street, until Sunday, May 17, free. A panel discussion with the artists takes place on April 30 (6pm-8pm) and is also free, but booking is required.