Category: News

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Artists and Sustainability – Shezad Dawood

A still image from Leviathan Episode 8 showing a young indigenous person in traditional dress and face paint looks into the camera. A caption included on the image reads: 'It reached the sacred alter, It reached the sacred alter".

Every month, Castlefield Gallery publishes a Sustainability Spotlight which focuses on one of the artists they are working with.  It looks at their work and how it might relate to climate change.

Hybrid Future artist Shezad Dawood was featured recently and you can read his thoughts here:  www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/news/spotlight-artists-and-sustainability-shezad-dawood/

“There really is a role to play for artists, galleries and art spaces to connect with and support real-world change. Not just through best practice, but by stepping out of our comfort zones and working collaboratively with individuals and collectives from other disciplines and the wider public.”  Artist Shezad Dawood

A newly acquired work by Shezad Dawood will be shown at The Grundy along with a new commission by RA Walden as part of Lightpool from 20 October 2023.

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Artists and Sustainability – Parham Ghalamdar

A detailed, close up image of the top of an unglazed pot, with light blue and black glaze drips.

Every month, Castlefield Gallery publishes a Sustainability Spotlight which focuses on one of the artists they are working with.  It looks at their work and how it might relate to climate change.

In August, Hybrid Future artist Parham Ghalamdar was featured and you can read what he had to say here: www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/news/spotlight-artists-and-sustainability-parham-ghalamdar/

“I would suggest embracing collaboration and community engagement. Collaborative projects that involve local communities and environmental organisations can amplify the impact of artistic efforts. As artists, we can facilitate workshops and discussions that encourage sustainable practices in both art creation and daily life. By fostering a sense of shared responsibility, we can collectively contribute to a more sustainable future.”  Artist Parham Ghalamdar

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READ: Charu Vallabhbhai reviews The Poetics of Water at Castlefield Gallery in the latest of Hybrid Future’s commissioned reviews

“Ghalamdar signals a warning in these new works while El Mal offers an alternative way. In her practice of working collectively, El Mal recognises that all her work is produced within an interdependent community. This is a reflection of the great need for cooperative will and action, globally.”

Click here to visit Charu Vallabhbhai’s review for The Fourdrinier.

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Artists and Sustainability

Photograph showing Jesica El Mal's work installed at Castlefield Gallery. Three transulsent blue banners, lit by two blue lights, hang floor to celing infront of a red wall.

Every month, Castlefield Gallery publishes a Sustainability Spotlight which focuses on one of the artists they are working with.  It looks at their work and how it might relate to climate change.

The latest Spotlight features Hybrid Future artist Jessica El Mal and you can read her responses here: https://www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/news/spotlight-artists-and-sustainability-jessica-el-mal/

“Climate doom is real and it’s so easy to feel overwhelmed and hopeless. It helps to recognise that there are people doing really practical, thoughtful and amazing work, especially in the global south, and we can learn (or unlearn) things from others if we are open and respectful, and we can support by redistributing resources such as money, but also time, knowledge and access. “  Artist, Jessica El Mal

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Check out the films and critical writing commissioned for Hybrid Futures

A still from episode 8 of Leviathan, shows an South American indigenous man, pounding a tree with his fist, looking up at it.

“We hear a lot more talk about Indigenous knowledge, alternate cosmologies but this was trying to locate it and to think it through as a practical as well as philosophical collective imagining of the ways we could try things differently from a social, cultural and natural perspective.” Artist Shezad Dawood on the making of Episode 8 of his Leviathan Cycle

A series of films and critical writing that explore the Hybrid Futures exhibitions programme can be found in the exhibitions section under the relevant artist and exhibition.  There are also recordings and other assets that accompany some of our past events programme.

Watch: Parham Ghalamdar and Jessica El Mal discuss The Poetics of Water at Castlefield Gallery

Read: Desmond Bullen reviews The Poetics of Water for Northern Soul

Read: Maja Lorkowska reviews The Poetics of Water for Creative Tourist

Watch: Shezad Dawood discusses Leviathan: From the Forest to the Sea at Touchstones Rochdale

Read: Ella Otomewo reviews Leviathan: From the Forest to the Sea for Corridor 8

Watch: Leviathan: From the Forest to the Sea – More-Than-Human Collaborations Panel Discussion

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Hybrid Futures Partner Wins National Green Impact Awards

The University of Salford Art Collection were recognised at the national Green Impact awards, taking home two awards this year; innovation for Engagement and Sustainability Hero, for their continuing commitment to sustainability action and engagement.

Green Impact is a UNESCO award-winning programme designed to support environmentally and socially sustainable practices within organisations, run internationally by SOS-UK.

The Art Collection Team won the national Innovation for Engagement award thanks to the largest outreach and impact, international engagement and multiple stakeholders in their programmes and projects, a legacy that Hybrid Futures now seeks to build on. At the end of last year, the Team also won a Platinum Green Impact award for their sustainability efforts within the University, which have included reducing waste and energy use. 

You can read more about the University of Salford Art Collection’s sustainability efforts and their work for Green Impact, here. 

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Preview | Hybrid Futures: The Poetics of Water

Graphic promoting The Poetics of Water at Castlefield Gallery.

Join us to preview Castlefield Gallery’s Hybrid Futures exhibition The Poetics of Water on Thursday 22 June 2023, 6-8pm.

The Poetics of Water features new work by Jessica El Mal and Parham Ghalamdar that is motivated by the effects of capitalism, corruption and colonialism on the natural environment. Through a series of ceramics and colour saturated oil paintings of dystopian landscapes, Ghalamdar is reflecting on a recurring theme in Persian mythology: a struggle to prevent the separation of soil and water and the repression of growth and knowledge that would cause. Ghalamdar feels this struggle is taking on an absurd tone as it gets repeated in contemporary politics without success. Alongside ongoing research into the history of climate injustice El Mal is working with field and voice recordings and developing imagery with cyanotype prints made with rainfall in Morocco. The resulting works are poetic rather than prescriptive, aiming for a more emotional and expansive experience of their subject matter. A shared point of reference for El Mal and Ghalamdar is contrasting attitudes towards rainfall; particularly between Manchester where regular rainfall is a common source of complaint and Morocco and Iran where droughts and water shortages are an increasingly serious problem. Together their works invite visitors to look across landscapes, borders and centuries and to think deeply about these fundamental elements of soil and water.

If you would rather book a timed visit with additional restricted capacity in the gallery and enjoy our new exhibition at your own pace, you can attend our Saturday Slow Preview on 24 June 2023. This is also a chance for you to ask questions to Castlefield Gallery Curator and Deputy Director Matthew Pendergast. Refreshments will be provided.
Book your free tickets here

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Launching this week – Shezad Dawood: Leviathan: From the Forest to the Sea at Touchstones, Rochdale

A promotional image showing a still image from Leviathan Episode 8, which includes the dark silhouette of a bird against an abstract dark green, maroon, and yellow background. Text on top of the image reads: 'Hybrid Futures Leviathan From the Forest to the Sea'

The first public instalment of Hybrid Futures, Shezad Dawood: Leviathan: From the Forst to the Sea, launches this week from Saturday 3rd June at Touchstones, Rochdale.

Shezad Dawood’s exhibition premieres the latest episode of his epic film series Leviathan Cycle, titled Episode 8: Cris, Sandra, Papa & Yasmine, alongside related textiles, paintings and research material. Set in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest – one of the most ecologically diverse and threatened biomes on earth, Episode 8 charts an embodied, spiritual and ecological journey along the age-old Guarani path that links the forest to the sea. 

Read more about Hybrid Futures at Touchstones, here.

You’re invited to join Touchstones on Friday 2nd June from 6pm to celebrate the exhibition opening. 

To RSVP, email culture@yourtrustrochdale.co.uk

Please note, RSVP is ESSENTIAL in order for us to manage capacity. Without RSVP, you may not be guaranteed entry to the exhibition.

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