British Art Show 6 Symposium

Power and the Market
1-2.30pm
This presentation will explore issues such as the ‘subscription’ process including the validation of artists by the process of selection and curation of exhibitions; the relationship between criticism and the art market; the notion of contemporary art as an investment vehicle; and the consequences for artists, galleries and institutions when Art and Commerce are closely intertwined. It will also explore the implications for artists working outside of London, and ask who judges the value of art-critics, dealers, curators or collectors?

British Art in an International Context
3-4.30pm
This session focuses on new definitions of ‘British’ identity; globalisation and cultural diversity; migration and dislocation within current artists practice; and the specifics of curatorial practice in the context of ‘national’ or ‘international’ exhibitions or biennials.

Debate
6-7.30pm
Join the debate exploring themes from the Power and the Market, and British Art in an International Context.

The symposium will take place in The Whitworth Art Gallery Lecture Theatre. Light refreshments will be provided. Booking Essential.

MORE ON JONATHAN HARRIS:
Jonathan Harris is Professor of Art History in the School of Architecture at the University of Liverpool. He is author and editor of many books, including ‘Art in Modern Culture’ (1992), ‘The New Art History: A Critical Introduction’ (2001) and ‘Writing Back to Modern Art: After Greenberg, Fried, and Clark’ (2005). In 2006 his new edited collection ‘Dead History, Live Art? Subjectivity, Spectacle, and Subversion in Visual Culture since the 1960s’ is published.

MORE ON JASON BOWMAN:
Jason Bowman is a multi-folio practitioner. He trained as an artist and cultural theorist and currently works as an artist, consultant, curator and educator. As a practitioner he has developed and produced many international projects, most recently being the co-curator of Selective Memory at the Venice Biennale 2005. He is also a co-director of Midwest, a catalyst for communication relating to artist-led culture.

MORE ON DOUG FISHBONE:
Artist Doug Fishbone lives and works in London after completing an MFA at Goldsmiths College in 2003. He is showing currently in the British Art Show 6. He was awarded the Beck’s Futures Prize for Student Film and Video in 2004 and was included in Norwich’s 2005 East International exhibition. He recently had his first two-person exhibition in London at Program and in May 2006, has his first US gallery exhibition at Freight&Volume in New York.

MORE ON STEVEN GARTSIDE:
Steven Gartside is Research Fellow for the ‘Location, Memory and the Visual Research Group’ at MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University and runs the University Network MA Programme at Tate Liverpool. He is currently working on the exhibition ‘concrete thoughts’ which is a collaboration with Dr Sam Gathercole and opens at the Whitworth Art Gallery in September, he is also completing work on the publication ‘City Guidebook’.

MORE ON GILL HEDLEY:
Gill Hedley has been Director of the Contemporary Art Society since 1993. She studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art before working as a curator in Bristol, Newcastle and Southampton and from 1988-1993 she organised exhibitions overseas for the British Council. Gill is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is on the Boards of prestigious galleries throughout the UK including The Hatton Gallery, The University of Northumberland.

MORE ON ALISTAIR HUDSON:
Alistair Hudson is Deputy Director of Grizedale Arts, a research and development agency based in the Lake District which provides a new model for the art institution in the 21st century. The programme includes residencies, exhibitions, live art, research, publishing and web projects. Previously Alistair has worked as a Curator for the Government Art Collection, at the Anthony d’Offay Gallery, The Henry Moore Institute and the Venice Biennale.

MORE ON SORAYA RODRIGUEZ:
Soraya Rodriguez co-founded the Zoo Art Fair in 2004 with gallerist David Risley and is also Director of The Great Unsigned, an agency promoting unsigned artists. Since May 2005 she has run Artist and Museum Liaison at White Cube with Irene Bradbury. Trained as a sculptor, she has worked previously in the Publications Department at the Royal Academy, and as Director of Exhibitions for Max Wigram’s MW projects.

MORE ON GAVIN WADE:
Gavin Wade is an Artist-Curator and Research Fellow in Curating at the University of Central England. Recent curated projects include Public Structures, GuangZhou Triennial, China, 2005; Spectator T cross city exhibition, Sheffield 2005; and Strategic Questions (2002-2008), an ongoing series of 40 projects in 40 publications. He is the editor of Curating In The 21st Century (2000) and Nathan Coley: Black Tent, Art & Sacred Places (2003).

This event is part of a citywide programme. The British Art Show event programme is available to download at www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk. The British Art Show 6 education and events programme for Manchester and the North West is supported by Arts Council England and sponsored by Aimhigher.

British Art Show 6 is a Hayward Gallery Touring Exhibition. Presented in association with Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and in galleries across the cities of Manchester, Nottingham and Bristol.