Announcing the Selected Castlefield Gallery Associates from our Place Open Call
Posted on 9 September 2026
Announcing the three artists who have been selected to exhibit together as part of Castlefield Gallery’s latest Associates Open Call, which invited artists to respond to the theme of place.
Selected from artists across the North West and UK for the opportunity to present new and recent work at Castlefield Gallery, their work will come together in a new exhibition launching in February 2027. the exhibition will bring together three distinct practices and perspectives, united by an exploration of ‘place’ as something more than a physical location.
SELECTED ARTISTS
- Ron Hutchison
- Mahrokh Mofidnakhaei
- Ngo Chun Tse
This year’s guest selector was Hannah Perry, whose multidisciplinary practice spans installation, sculpture, film, sound and performance. Working alongside Castlefield Gallery’s Ryan French who will be curating this exhibiton, the three artists were selected from a highly competitive field of applications. The artists were selected due to both the strength of their individual practices, and also the conversations that could emerge by bringing their work together. We thank every single member who applied – we once more recieved a record number of applications.
This opportunity continues ourcommitment to creating opportunities for artists in Greater Manchester and beyond to develop their practice, make new work and reach new audiences.
Living in Manchester, Ron Hutchison creates art from everyday materials and environments, transforming them through a visual logic that records a transition from the familiar into something new. His work is never static, remaining caught in a constant state of becoming where “what you see is not all there is.”
Underpinned by abstraction and the concept of the contingent object, his pieces are stripped of functional constraints and arranged into strict abstract geometries. These hybrid works possess sculptural qualities, existing either as finished objects or unfinished “things” that invite multiple interpretations. By embracing the unresolved and uncertainty, his work allows for multiple truths.
Hutchison re-frames and re-thinks the everyday and the readymade, exploring object-hood, place, and how we individually experience them. Although abstract and concrete in their concern for form, colour, and plane, the works are deeply experiential – even the silence of a piece speaks in its own right.
Ultimately, the viewer’s experience is key. The viewer is invited to interact with the artwork and its space, considering their relationship to it and contributing to a broader understanding and interpretation of art.
Mahrokh Mofidnakhaei is an Iranian painter based in Manchester, UK. Working primarily in oil painting, her practice explores unstable interiors, memory, and the psychological pressure of displacement. Through layered light, reflections and fragmented architectural forms, her paintings suggest places that appear familiar at first, but gradually become uncertain.
She completed an MA in Painting at Manchester School of Art in 2024, and also holds an MA in Painting from Sooreh University, Tehran. Mofidnakhaei is a member of Castlefield Gallery Associates and was selected for the second cohort of Apollo Painting School.
Her recent exhibitions include Manchester Open 2026 at HOME, Manchester; Peripheries at 1853 Studios; and exhibitions with Apollo Painting School at Grundy Art Gallery and Alice Amati. In 2026, she presented a solo exhibition at Radin Art Gallery in Mashhad, Iran. Her upcoming exhibitions include Enhancing the Subject with Apollo Painting School at UNITOM Projects, Manchester, and Global Roots Canvas with DIPACT at 1853 Studios.
Ngo Chun Tse is a Hong Kong born, UK based artist, writer and curator. He works across moving image, installation, writing, performance and curatorial practice, critically engaging with hauntology, immigration, infrastructure, geopolitics, technological systems, image production and the historiography of decolonisation. He graduated from Chelsea College of Arts in 2016 and the Slade School of Fine Art in 2022. In 2024, Ngo Chun was part of Peer-to-Peer, an artist support programme convened by Metroland Cultures. His works have been presented at art spaces, institutions and festivals including FLAMIN, g39, Live Art Development Agency, Bloc Projects, Metroland Cultures, Open City Documentary Festival, among others.
Recent exhibitions include; Long Vacation 2.0, 2026, Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, When Things Fail to Cohere: Members Show 2026, Bloc Projects, Sheffield, Bring Your Own Beamer, arebyte Digital Art Centre, London, COMPUTALA 2026: Robots for a Safer World, LCB Depot, Leicester and Through a Glass Darkly, 2024, Metroland Studios Gallery, London (solo exhibition).
More on the Artists
Images
- Mahrokh Mofidnakhaei, Second Position No. 3, 2026, oil on canvas, 80 x 50 cm, Photo courtesy of the artist
- Mahrokh Mofidnakhaei, Containment No 2, 2025, Oil on Canvas, Photo courtesy of Tom Carter
- Ngo Chun Tse, Cinephile Spiral, 2025, lecture performance, Noel Li
- Ron Hutchison, 2026, Painted Wood, Perspex, Photo prints, Wire Mesh
