PREVIEW – 30 Years of the Future

4 December 2014 / 6-8pm

Join us for the preview 30 Years of the Future and help us celebrate our  30-year history. Since its founding in 1984, CG has been proactively supporting artists at various stages of their careers and has been privileged to work with many artists who have gone on to receive international acclaim. For 30 Years of the Future CG has asked prominent contemporary artists, curators and thinkers who have contributed to its 30-year history to nominate artists who they consider to be shaping the future of contemporary art.

Working with sculpture, painting, video and performance the nominated artists, selected from across the UK, communicate the breadth of visual art being made today and demonstrate a variety of approaches to contemporary art practice.

Nominated artists include: Josh Bitelli and Felix Melia; Hannah Clayden; Jay Delves; Kathryn Elkin; Samuel Fouracre; Danny Fox; Timothy Foxon; Evan Ifekoya; Sam Keogh; John Henry Newton; Yelena Popova; Evangelia Spiliopoulou; Nye Thompson; Finbar Ward; Thomas Yeomans.

Nominators: Dave Beech, artist, writer, and Lecturer in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts; Pavel Büchler, artist and Professor of Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University; JJ Charlesworth, associate editor of Art Review; Ryan Gander, artist and Patron of Castlefield Gallery; Mary Griffiths, artist and Curator of Modern Art at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Lubaina Himid, artist and Professor of Contemporary Art at the University of Central Lancashire; Kate Jesson, Curator at Manchester Art Gallery; Pil and Galia Kollectiv, artists, writers, curators, and Lecturers in Fine Art at the University of Reading; Francis McKee, Director at the Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow, and research fellow at The Glasgow School of Art; Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at Serpentine Gallery, London; Bob and Roberta Smith, artist, Royal Academician, Trustee for the National Campaign for the Arts, and a Patron of the National Society for Education in Art and Design; Emily Speed, artist; Corin Sworn, artist, represented Scotland at Venice Biennale 2013, and winner of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women 2013; Sue Webster, artist.

To coincide with 30 Years of the Future CG has commissioned Manchester-based artist Mike Chavez-Dawson to develop 30/30: a continuation of his work with concrete poetry and performance posters. To mark CG’s 30th anniversary Chavez-Dawson has developed a new piece based on answers to questions he posed to selected past and present CG staff. Weaving their experiences together to form a concrete poem poster that acts as a kinetic, visual and linguistic score. The work will be performed by poet and curator of The Dark Would an exhibition and anthology of text based art and co-curator for TEXT Festival, PhiliP Davenport and curator, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, and curator of Concrete Poetry (2011) Hayward Gallery, Richard Parry during the preview of 30 Years of the Future on Thu 4 Dec 2014.

A limited edition of 30 signed A2 black & white 30/30 posters will be available for £30 each during the exhibition (ends Sun 1 Feb 2015). Following this they will be on sale at £130 each. 

Public Preview: Thu 4 Dec 2014, 6-8pm – All welcome

The preview of 30 Years of the Future is kindly supported by The Ale Man and Fred Aldous

Castlefield Gallery is closed for Christmas from Sunday 21 Dec 2014 and will reopen on Wednesday 7 Jan 2015.