The Art Guide
The Art Guide is a comprehensive listing of Artistic Events and Exhibitions
Current Exhibitions
Together We Move Events Programme
4 July 2019 — 3 November 2019Together We Move is an on-going programme of responsive events and exhibitions, which celebrates Everything I Have Is Yours by Eileen Simpson and Ben White (Open Music Archive).
Since January 2019, local producer Liz Wewiora, and artist team, Sally Gilford and Ben McDonnell, have been working with over 60s residents from across Greater Manchester to engage with the music, visual culture and social history of the decade 1952–1962. Following a series of creative workshops including screen printing, collage, music and how to develop a ‘visual score’, the participants and artists have developed a collective artwork. This new installation fills the stairway and represents visual scores drawn from tracks including Moon Riverby Danny Williams (HMV) 1961,Oh Carolby Neil Sedaka (RCA) 1959, and Because You’re Mine by Nat ‘King’ Cole (Capitol) 1952.
The artists and local residents will continue to work together to develop workshops, events and products throughout the exhibition period, including some for the general public. From 3 September 2019 the installation will also be accompanied by an audio piece animating the space further.
Venue: Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Peel Park, The Cresent, Salford M3 5WU
Together We Move at MIF2019 Festival Square
5.30pm–7.00pm, Wednesday 10 July 2019
A group of older musicians representing the film’s protagonists and wider Greater Manchester communities will perform in Manchester International Festival 2019’s Festival Square.
This one-off set at MIF19 Festival Square will include music from the 1950s and 60s, ranging from Jazz and pop to Rock and Roll, and spoken word, with performances from the Jazz Crackers, Emperors of Rhythm, Ged’s Music and more. The event is completely FREE and isn’t ticketed – so get down early to avoid disappointment!
Visual to Audio
2pm-4pm, Wednesday 24 July 2019
A free workshop by musician and artist Ben McDonnell, inviting you to respond to visual scores of music inspired by the first ten years of the UK hit charts. During the workshop you will be invited to listen, respond and create new beats based on visual score sheets. All sounds produced will be edited together to create a brand new audio installation at Salford Museum and Art Gallery in September.
You do not need to be able to play an instrument to get involved but this is a perfect session for a music enthusiast and if you have your own instrument you are more than welcome to bring it along! Limited places, pre-booking essential HERE
Further events and activities will be added here soon…
The Together We Move programme is supported by
and Castlefield Gallery Commissioning Patrons, Jo and Allan Melzack
Community partners
Everything I Have Is Yours
4 July 2019 — 3 November 2019Eileen Simpson and Ben White (Open Music Archive)
at Salford Museum and Art Gallery
PUBLIC PREVIEW: Wednesday 3 July, 6-8pm. RSVP HERE
Everything I Have Is Yours is an ambitious film and sound work by Eileen Simpson and Ben White (Open Music Archive) that looks back to the first decade of the UK pop charts (1952-62). Working with a group of older musicians – many of whom are the ‘original teenagers’ of the Greater Manchester music scene, now in their 70s and 80s – this film focuses on this diverse group as they re-engage with public-domain samples from the formative era of the ‘birth of pop’, and incorporate these timeless sounds into new musical creations. When the musicians play, they individually and collectively interact with digital technology, recalling archive sounds ripped from 1950s and early 1960s shellac and vinyl chart hits. As the group trigger these sounds from the past, the camera continuously tracks its way through the assembled musicians, echoing the circular loops of the music itself.
Everything I Have Is Yours has been commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella, Contemporary Art Society, University of Salford Art Collection and Castlefield Gallery. An edition of the film will enter the University of Salford Art Collection.
To coincide with the launch of Everything I Have Is Yours, Castlefield Gallery will present Eileen Simpson and Ben White: Open Music Archive, the first UK survey show of the artists’ work from 14 June – 18 August 2019. The exhibition presents a selection of projects developed over the last ten years in which the artists explore the performative potential of the archive by reanimating copyright-expired archive material.
Image: Eileen Simpson and Ben White, Everything I Have Is Yours, 2019. (Ungraded film still 1) 2019 (cc) by-sa 4.0. Image courtesy of the artists.
Commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella, the Contemporary Art Society, University of Salford Art Collection and Castlefield Gallery through ‘Equal Shares’ 2019
Presented by
Supported by
Outreach & engagement programme supported by
and Castlefield Gallery Commissioning Patrons, Jo and Allan Melzack
Community partners
Film & Video Umbrella and Castlefield Gallery Funders
Castlefield Gallery Exhibition Supporters
Eileen Simpson and Ben White: Open Music Archive
14 June 2019 — 18 August 2019Castlefield Gallery is pleased to present the first UK survey show of work by Eileen Simpson and Ben White, exhibiting a selection of their projects from the last ten years that explore the performative potential of the archive.
With a focus on the voice, this exhibition includes sound recordings taken from the genesis of the music industry in 1920s Atlanta, a lost feature film from 1950s Jordan, and samples ripped from 1960s UK chart hit records. The artists have collaborated with a range of people, using these rich archival materials, to produce an open source body of audio-visual artwork.
Working at the intersection of art, music and information networks, Simpson and White generate public resources. They are the founders of Open Music Archive (WWW.OPENMUSICARCHIVE.ORG) which sources, digitises and distributes out-of-copyright recordings. It is a site of exchange, and a vehicle for future collaboration. Their practice incorporates alternative peer-to-peer models, challenging default mechanisms for the authorship, ownership and distribution of art.
The exhibition coincides with the launch of Everything I Have Is Yours, an ambitious film and sound work by Eileen Simpson and Ben White (Open Music Archive) that looks back to the first decade of the UK pop charts (1952-62) commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella, the Contemporary Art Society, University of Salford Art Collection and Castlefield Gallery and presented at Salford Museum and Art Gallery from 4 July – 3 November 2019.
Image: Eileen Simpson and Ben White, Auditory Learning, 2016. Installation view: British Art Show 8, 2015-17, Bargate Monument, Southampton. (cc) by-sa 4.0. Image courtesy the artists
Castlefield Gallery Funders and Exhibition Supporters
Upcoming Exhibitions
a place lived at Archives+
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Recent Exhibitions
Ruth Barker & Hannah Leighton-Boyce’s exhibition tours to Glasgow Women’s Library
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