Manchester

‘Fuzzy Puzzle’ by Pablo Melchor

“We are not Complicated People. We Don’t Care if we are Behind the Camera or in Front of the Projector”

Pablo Melchor and “Fuzzy Puzzle”:  A Profile – by Jo Rose

Paris born, Manchester bred artist Pablo Melchor’s projection piece, “Fuzzy Puzzle”, marks the NYC closing ceremony of Manchester-based collective Alexandra Art’s third year of the Pankhurst in the Park Festival. It illuminated the walls of the Mothership in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint on September 21st.  Melchor describes “Fuzzy Puzzle” as ‘a prism vision. A Fuzzy collection of memories’ which aims to be ‘subjective and colourful’. As such, the piece holds a strange place for Pablo as an author since it is, as he himself insists, an extension and acknowledgement of his involvement with Alexandra Arts and its branching out beyond Manchester’s frontiers, especially to New York, and Manchester’s cultural scene over more than a half-decade. It embraces its own inherent fragmentation and displacement.
— Jo Rose

This article is now live over at Art 511 Magazine. This piece was commissioned by us for the centenary for UK women’s suffrage [funded by ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND] during the Pankhurst in the Park 2018 season. See Pablo Melchor’s projection piece in full below.

Author’s Bio

 Jo Rose is a writer, musician, promoter, and English Literature Postgraduate based in Manchester, England. He currently works closely with the Alexandra Arts collective, most notably with the Pankhurst in the Park Festival and with the teacher training initiative the “Art as Activism Toolkit”. His principle academic focus has been in ‘modernist’ and ‘late modernist’ literature (most prominently the works of Samuel Beckett and animals in literary works). He has released several records, and has toured extensively throughout the UK and Europe for over a decade, working alone and collaborating with a multitude of other artists. He co-habits with a miserly ex-racing greyhound, Harpo, a relationship he likens to having a deer as a pet.

Alien Armageddon, Empathy & The Vine of the Soul

A conversation with Melanie Bonajo

BY KATIE CERCONE

In terms of plant meditation, I allow plants to be my teachers, they take me to a place of silence and I access portals that are usually only opening with an intensely deep, probably monastery meditation practice
— Melanie Bonajo

Melanie Bonajo, Night Soil - Economy of Love, 2015, film still courtesy AKINCI

This article is now live over at Art 511 Magazine! This piece was commissioned by Alexandra Arts and first published in the special print edition of Art 511 Mag celebrating International Women’s Day and the centenary for UK women’s suffrage [funded by ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND] during the Pankhurst in the Park 2018 season. You can download the digital version of the full mag here

Amy Clancy in conversation with Helen Wewiora

Helen Wewiora became the Director of the Castlefield Gallery in central Manchester at the end of 2016. Here she speaks to Amy Clancy about Manchester’s place in the art world, addressing challenges and a new artistic exchange program.

This interview is now live over at Art 511 Magazine! This piece was commissioned by Alexandra Arts  and first published in the special print edition of Art 511 Mag celebrating International Women’s Day and the centenary for UK women’s suffrage [funded by ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND] during the Pankhurst in the Park 2018 season. You can download the digital version of the full mag here

Hannah Leighton Boyce. Studio view, work in progress

Banner image - Hannah Leighton-Boyce, More energy than object, more force than form, 2018 [detail] Courtesy ® Drew Forsyth

Tasha Whittle Commission Announcement

Alexandra Arts are thrilled to announce that interdisciplinary Manchester artist Tasha Whittle will be joining us as a commissioned artist for 2018’s Pankhurst in the Park project.

Tasha Whittle has built a reputation in the Manchester art scene as the founder of Outhouse, an Outdoor Project Space for Public Art, which operates primarily in the city’s Northern Quarter. She is a visual artist and has created the installation of murals, pop up artist shop SWAG, handcrafted homewares, jewellery and clothing, interactive pieces both alone and collaboratively. In Australia she ran an art gallery and studio space in the heart of Melbourne’s creative quarter. Tasha has worked as a VJ and a promoter in the local DIY punk scene of Norfolk before moving to Manchester. 

Whittle’s contribution to the Pankhurst in the Park initiative will involve a visual-sonic performance, performed on “Glyn”, a handmade analogue synthesiser constructed with her collaborative partner Darren Adcock. Together the pair work under as ‘Coatic Sequence’ and currently utilise drawing to manipulate the sound from Glyn. Though many elements are yet to be decided (and this is an openness and element of surprise we heartily welcome!), she will perform with Glyn to manipulate vocals, collaborate with other musicians and possibly even the audience themselves, not to mention the manipulation of sound through the live production of images. It will be a spectacle at once highly technical, whilst also being very physical, dynamic and organic.

Speaking to Tasha, her commitment to music is expressed with such passion it is moving to hear. "I find solace in art and salvation in music" she claims.  It is only recently, however that she has "felt confidence to present this publicly". This shift she attributes partly to the influence of female artist and musician friends in Manchester and Melbourne who have inspired her.  "It's fun to make sounds and work out how something is created" in her collaborative work in Coatic Sequence both members contributions are of equal value and significance. "I'm enjoying including sound into my practice"

Whittle is drawn to the Pankhurst in the Park project in part because of its celebration of the Women’s Suffrage Movement, though she notes women’s struggles with inequality and oppression still persist today.

“The older I get the more I see the inequality of the systems around us, it frustrates me. I am so thankful to all the women before me who fought and pulled women up to the platform where we currently stand. I want to become a part of that climb, to raise ourselves up further than the sky.”

It is a perspective that binds itself well with the ultimate goal of Pankhurst in the Park, to tackle the lack of representation of women in the art world itself by taking an opportunity to joyously celebrate the talent and ingenuity local female artists have to offer.

See Tasha's Artist profile in our centenary edition of NYC based Art 511 Mag here

Art 511 Mag

10 Organisations Helping Artists build Community

Alexandra Arts is named by Art 511 Mag as one of '10 Organisations helping Artists build community' with Ultracultural Others, Minnesota street projects, Beat Global, Culture Push + others. We are truly humbled, to be connected to so many forward thinking creatives who are smashing up the conventional mould of 'community arts'. We are also the only organisation outside the US on the list! Read the full article here

In addition to their dynamic offerings in the park, Alexandra Arts is perhaps best know for its (international) artist residency program Pankhurst in the Park. Inspired largely by the legacy of the suffragette activism that took place in Alexandra Park and named for iconic movement leader Emmeline Pankhurst.
— Art 511 Mag

'Sound of Silence' exhibition review 

Radical artist and feminist writer Katie Cercone did a shimmering review of Alexandra Arts lead Artist Lotte Karlsen's solo exhibition 'Sound of Silence' in New York, last September. It's now available to view at Art 511 Mag

In a highly competitive and commercialized industry like art, where working together or calling yourself “feminist” isn’t always a safe or lucrative career move, Karlsen’s insistence on following through with her total vision for integration of self and community feels all encompassing in her radically interdisciplinary work. Her dexterity with the medium of glass and subtle meditation on the nature of life and death promises to shine through in this kinetic, effervescent installation for many moons
— Katie Cercone, Art 511 Mag

Where to find us and how

Where and how to find us

‘Tea Hive’ Pavilion-  The nearest park entrance is on Demesne Road, where it meets Smalldale Avenue. Satnav postcode M16 8PJ https://goo.gl/maps/cJBaAURvkWk

The 85 bus stops along Alexandra Road South where it crosses Demesne Road. https://goo.gl/maps/7Ddhv3RDWxr Bus 101, 104, 015 and 109 stops by the Shell garage on Princess Parkway https://goo.gl/maps/vJDbJDHRsfF2

Woodland exhibition area – Nearest entrance to the woodland is on Alexandra Road South, opposite Range Road. Satnav postcode M16 8ER. https://goo.gl/maps/PNWvvQBRDJ82

Bus 85 does three stops along the parks boarder on Alexandra Road South, get off at the second of three. Coming from town or Chorlton. https://goo.gl/maps/omg1eNdJs3v

Chorlton Lodge – the Parks Lodge house is located on the corner of Smalldale Avenue and Claremont Road. Satnav postcode M16 7JH https://goo.gl/maps/9it2NDv2MAJ2   

Bus 101,104, 105 and 109 stops on Princess Road, where it meets Claremont Road https://goo.gl/maps/D8ZASZRkndE2

The official address for Alexandra Park is 180 Russell Street, M16 7JL Manchester https://goo.gl/maps/QN38NgZVvcn

 

Pankhurst in the Park presents Legacy Fatale

Pankhurst in the Park kicks off with a Suffrajitsu Wonder Warrior performance

Alexandra Art is kicking off the 'Pankhurst in the Park' 2016 programme of events by taking part in 'Wonder Women'. For this radical fem fest Alexandra Arts are working with New York based collective LEGACY FATALE, led by artists Coco Dolle and Shawn Bishop.

LEGACY FATALE is a performance choreography group founded in 2008 that celebrates the ancient nomadic warrior women of the Amazon. The collective represents a breed of hybrid historic and pop cultural icons, a cross-pollination of mythical and contemporary female archetypes.

LEGACY FATALE

A Thousand times Thy Light

BYRDCLIFFE CENTER

Woodstock, New York

2015 

This commissioned choreography piece is a fusion of Mrs Pankhurst’s ‘Suffrajitsu’ bodyguards - the elite secret society of “Amazons”, women trained in the martial art of Bartitsu - and an animal print extravaganza that will be popping up across the city (look out for locations via social media) between Tuesday 8th March (International Woman's Day) and Friday 11th March. This micro-residency will lead up to an interactive 'Wonder Warrior' performance and artist presentation as part of PitP's official launch party with DJ Andrea Trout at the 'Tea Hive' Pavilion in Alexandra Park on 12 March, 2016.

“Through a series of intensifying performances, Legacy Fatale will expand upon the lexicon of the female power struggle, bridging myth, history and pop culture. Taking cues from the legendary Amazon Warriors, the iconic Wonder Woman, and the fierce Suffragettes, we will integrate social protest, ancient symbology and Bartitsu practices paying homage to feminisms' ferocious heritage” - Coco Dolle and Shawn Bishop of LEGACY FATALE

Alexandra Arts

Pankhurst in the Park 2016 – presents Legacy Fatale

'Tea Hive' Pavilion, Alexandra Park, M16 8PJ Manchester

Date: 12 March, 2016

Times: 6pm - midnight (18+)

Free

Wonder Women

This event is part of Wonder Women, Manchester’s annual feminist festival. From 3-13 March 2016, 'Wonder Women' celebrates the women’s movement, which was born in our city, through film, art, music, walking tours, gallery takeovers, comedy and debate, asking how far we’ve come in 100 years – and how far we have yet to go.

Pankhurst in the Park

Pankhurst in the Park 2016 is an Arts Council England funded, public programme of free age-friendly events, artist commissions, an international artist in residency and educational programme, taking place in Manchester March – May 2016.

Stay up to date with with the 'Pankhurst in the Park' 2016 programme by following us:

Dig the City 11am coffee morning talk: Pankhurst in The Park

11am Coffee Morning Talk: Pankhurst in the Park

When: Mon 3rd August, 11.00am until 12.00pm

Where: Dig the City Den @ St Ann Square

Free Talk

Join Dig the City Coffee Morning Talk and hear about Emmeline Pankhurst’s links to Alexandra Park and how she inspired the Park’s artistic regeneration.

Alexandra Arts is an artist-led collective based in Manchester’s Alexandra Park, founded in 2010 by Artist Lotte Karlsen. During Autumn 2014, Alexandra Arts curated the widely successful Pankhurst in the Park programme and are currently planning for its return in 2015.

Pankhurst in the Park is an Arts Council England funded programme of free events, artist commissions and an international artist residency. It celebrates Alexandra Park’s rich historical connection to the iconic leader of the Suffragette Movement, Emmeline Pankhurst, who was born and bred only yards from the Park in the neighbouring Moss Side estate.

 

Tea Hive Alexandra Park

Family Day at Tea Hive Alexandra Park

Following a series of successful pop ups for Pankhurst in the Park over the last year, we are very excited to announce Tea Hive have secured the tender to run the Alexandra Park cafe permanently!

To celebrate this join Alexandra Arts for a family open day on Saturday 6th June from 1-4pm featuring Tea Hive refreshments, kids activities, park heritage and wildlife activities and sports activities plus much more.  

Artist portrait #3 : Go! Push Pops

Artist portrait of Go! Push Pops, a radical queer performance art collective from New York City directed by American Katie Cercone and Chilean Elisa Garcia de la Huerta. The Go! Push Pops was Alexandra Arts first ever International Artist in Residency, during the 'Pankhurst in the Park' Autumn 2014 programming.

Recap Miami Art Basel 2014

Recap Miami Art Basel 2014

Manchester’s Alexandra Arts celebrated on international stage at Miami Art Basel

From 3rd to 6th December, Alexandra Arts’ founder and Pankhurst in the Park curator,Lotte Karlsen, exhibited work inspired by the history of Moss Side’s Alexandra Park to a celebrity audience at SELECT Art Fair as part of Miami Art Basel.

Pankhurst in the Park launch celebrates Moss Side's Radical Heritage

Pankhurst in the Park launch celebrates Moss Side's Radical Heritage

This week, on 4 October, Alexandra Arts will officially launch 'Pankhurst in the Park'; a programme of free events, activities and an international artist residency based in and around the newly reopened Alexandra Park, in Manchester.