CityLife

Jeanette Winterson plays surreal poetry game with Manchester Art Gallery

Detail of Diego and I by Frida Kahlo

MANCHESTER Art Gallery has launched a fittingly playful online resource for writing collaborative surreal poetry to accompany their new exhibition, Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism, which opens on 26 September.

Lines of poetry are added without knowing what has come before, or what comes next, in a twist on the old parlour game of consequences as developed by the surreal artists in the 1920s.

Award-winning Manchester-born novelist Jeanette Winterson has already pledged her support by adding a line and she will also be speaking at an exclusive preview of the exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery on Thursday 24 September 2009.

Winterson’s line reads: ‘The gaps in the teeth or spill of the hair out of place', and you can now add your own surreal contribution alongside hers via the website (see link to right of page), Facebook or Twitter.

Each complete poem is nine lines long and will be revealed once the game is over. The contributor will then be sent a copy of the poem via email, Twitter or Facebook, and find out if their words will be published online alongside contributions from other well-known writers.

Councillor Mike Amesbury, Executive Member for Culture and Leisure said 'It is entirely fitting that Manchester - the city that gave rise to the Suffragette movement - should be staging this groundbreaking, celebratory exhibition about women artists and their previously unexplored, yet crucial role in surrealism.

The online surreal poetry game is a fun example of the innovative and engaging techniques that the gallery is employing to promote the exhibition.'

The website also includes biographies of the 32 women artists featured in the exhibition, as well as audio guides to accompany some of the 150 works displayed.

Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism is at Manchester Art Gallery from 26 September 2009 until 10 January 2010. For more information and to book tickets visit the link to the right of the page.