SPARK #4

SPARK #4 is a fourth in person meeting for Greater Manchester/North West-based artists who want to intervene in the trajectory towards climate breakdown, and is an opportunity to meet other artists and to share information and ideas.

Facilitated by artists Jackie Haynes and Sophy King, SPARK #4 will focus on the materials we use – what are their impacts and how can we minimise them? Attendees will have the opportunity to co-construct an outdoor sculptural installation from found and left-over materials.

UNPREDICTABLE SWERVES
Suggested read: Editor Barbra Bolt introduces the ‘clinamen’ meaning an inclining, tangential movement or ‘swerve that sets things in motion and initiates new patterns and movements (Sedley 1998, 2005). It is through these material movements and productive processes of matter that the world is made.’ Applied to art and climate activism, diverse interpretations of the swerve might be useful as a discussion point and motivating concept: ‘The idea that the world is a passive resource for use by active humans is no longer sustainable. The matter of the world can no longer be a mere resource for human endeavor. What is at stake here, is the very ground on which humanism has been built and sustained.’

https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/carnal-knowledge-towards-a-new-materialism-through-the-arts/introduction-toward-a-new-materialism-through-the-arts

Further or alternative suggested listening
Who Was Lucretius? with Thomas Nail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MX0qWKcrX8

The ancient philosopher Lucretius is known for his generally atheistic ontology and his theory of the clinamen or “the swerve”. The discussion covers the interest of 20th century philosophers in Lucretius’ theories, as well as the related political implications which issued forth.

Canal walk to Rogue
Artist John-Paul Brown will lead a walk from Manchester Art Gallery along the canal to Rogue; the walk will take about 90 minutes. If you’d like to walk to Rogue, please meet at the front steps of Manchester Art Gallery at 9am. The meet-up at Rogue will include a making session using things found on the walk.

You can register for the session at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/spark-4-tickets-416672698257

If you can’t come to the event but would like to be put on the Spark email list, please email Jane Lawson at jane@castlefieldgallery.co.uk. NB by doing this, you will be giving consent for your email address to be shared with the other artists on the list.

NB we’ll be using a space on the 2nd floor of Rogue and unfortunately there isn’t a lift. We will be looking for more accessible venues for future meet-ups.

SPARK #4 follows on from Castlefield Gallery’s SUSTAIN programme focussed on low carbon artmaking and from our first three SPARK sessions at Manchester Art Gallery and Rogue. The SPARK sessions are intended to help seed a new Greater Manchester/North West-based network of artists working low carbon.

Spark #4 is supported by Castlefield Gallery and Rogue Studios.

Image credit: Reishi mycelium vessel (2021), Jane Lawson