Archives at Play 2
Exhibition
Archives at Play 2
26 March 2023 - 04 June 2023
Archives at Play… November 2024 announcement!
This winter we are pleased to be able to share a new publication with you, (An Archive of) Archives at Play, designed by George Gibson, with an essay by Grace Collins.
The (An Archive of) Archives at Play publication is an archive of ‘Archives at Play’. The content of the publication was taken from the archive of Castlefield Gallery, through the archive of curator Thomas Dukes, via the archives of artists George Gibson and Grace Collins.
(An Archive of) Archives at Play, as an archive, like many archives, is a messy, cherry-picked, vaguely annotated, incomplete subsection. To access further content follow this link.
(An Archive of) Archives at Play was designed by George Gibson and Grace Collins, then printed by Thomas Dukes in red, purple and violet risograph on Evercopy 80gsm and Biotop 120gsm, with GF Smith Colorplan 135gsm covers. Edition of 50.
Limited print copies of the publication will be available at Bound Art Book Fair on the Artists Books Cooperative table. The fair runs 30 November – 1 December 2024 at Whitworth Art Gallery.
You can also find out more and explore (An Archive of) Archives at Play via @georgegracegibson and www.georgegracegibson.co.
______
Artists: George Gibson & Grace Collins, Gherdai Hassell, Anna FC Smith, Alistair Woods.
Archives at Play 2 was the second in a two-part series of exhibitions inviting an exciting roster of artists to delve into Castlefield Gallery’s archive. These exhibitions were part of a process of reflection as the gallery approached its 40th year and looked ahead to the next 40 years of working with artists.
New works by Alistair Woods and Gherdai Hassell explored cultural and historical narratives, prompting questions, and encouraging us to look at the past anew. Installations by George Gibson & Grace Collins and Anna FC Smith responded directly to the gallery’s archive, inviting visitors to join a conversation about how the gallery’s past might inform its future.
Archives at Play was a research project led by curator Thomas Dukes as part of a collaborative PhD between Castlefield Gallery and Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University. Through events, exhibitions and collaborations, Dukes was looking at how we can activate the archive to ask what Castlefield Gallery means to the communities around us. As well as working with artists through his research process Dukes had drawn many voices into Archives at Play, including Castlefield Gallery’s volunteers, placements, students / learners, peers, partners and supporters, and many of the gallery’s creative communities, including working with Back on Track, Venture arts and Castlefield Forum.
Like Dukes, the artists taking part in the Archives at Play series approached the archive as a living entity – as something not fixed, existing beyond objects, documents, ephemera; existing in the very fabric of the places and spaces the gallery occupies, within people – through our experiences and held in memory.
Archives at Play therefore invited visitors to get directly involved, to be part of the conversation, to co-imagine Castlefield Gallery’s next 40 years, through the exhibition, events programme, on site and via social media.
WATCH NOW: Archives at Play 2 at Castlefield Gallery
In this video, exhibiting artists George Gibson and Gherdai Hassell discuss their work and creative process with curator Thomas Dukes. Filmed and edited by Jules Lister.
VIRTUAL TOUR:
For the best experience, once the tour has loaded we recommend selecting the ‘View Fullscreen’ mode in the bottom/right corner
Archives at Play is supported by
This project is funded by the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership, part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council
