Category: News

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. 

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.

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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

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.

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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.