Tag: Hybrid Futures

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Climate Impact Study of First Hybrid Futures Exhibition Assessed

Hybrid Futures Climate Case Study: Leviathan: From the Forest to the Sea exhibition at Touchstones, Rochdale 3 June- 12 August 2023

Leviathan: From the Forest to the Sea opened at Touchstones Rochdale featuring the 8th film in Shezad Dawood’s Leviathan Cycle, plus a series of physical artworks – was the first of the Hybrid Futures branded exhibitions to open. 

As part of the Hybrid Futures project, staff at Touchstones and the team at Shezad’s studio collected as much data as they could about the energy, transport and material use associated with the exhibition. This information was then analysed by Danny Chivers, the Environmental Advisor to the project, to see what could be learned about the climate impact of the show. 

Read the headline results in this pdf.

Read more about Hybrid Futures and sustainabilty here.

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Collective Futures Third Meeting – Resonant Objects

Resonant Objects and Regrouping

A member of Collective Futures holds up a small punch of three bananas.
A member of Collective Futures holds up a small bamboo model of a house with green trim.

For our next meeting of the Collective Futures group, we met online on 5 October 2023. Each brought an object which holds a resonance in connection to the climate crisis and we shared why it is meaningful.

Objects included a cast iron frying pan, an overlocker, an ornament, a banana, books, metal straws, Twin Peak DVDs, a calculator, antiques, a family photograph, a wind- up radio, cleaning products, a spider plant, bin bags, African rocks, breath and Sajida’s nose.

A member of collective futures holds up a 35mm photograhic print of a baby on a parent's shoulders.
A member of Collective Futures holds up a rock in front of their right eye.

In under an hour, the Collective shared personal experiences, memories and emotions presenting objects that took us from the Amboseli, Kenya droughts and the mass deaths of animals, to sustainable bamboo building materials in Bangladesh to the worlds’ most contaminated  – River Doe Lea (1995) –  in Derbyshire to the everyday ritual of household waste disposal in Rochdale plus several other significant points of reference and resonances.

The feelings that were indirectly and directly expressed included the need for preservation of the past, fear, disbelief, overwhelm, frustration, injustice in the present, a sense of rootedness, the possibility for change, obligatory hope, the desire to nurture and cultivate and the acknowledgement of our inextricable connection to the world.

It’s not easy to get this kind of level of emotion and connection out of such a short session –  especially one that takes place online. It was a really powerful sharing and there’s clearly so much more to unpack between us.

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Coming Soon: GRUNDY X LIGHTPOOL X HYBRID FUTURES

As part of GRUNDY AT LIGHTPOOL: Neon, New Media and Natural Light Grundy Art Gallery is presenting work from Shezad Dawood and RA Walden, developed as part of Hybrid Futures.

THE UNIVERSE IS A CLOCK(i) Schrödinger’s equation, time dependent a new co-commission by RA Walden and Island Pattern a co-acquisition by Shezad Dawood will both be on display at Grundy Art Gallery until the 16th of December.

Read more about GRUNDY X LIGHTPOOL X HYBRID FUTURES here. 

Grundy Art Gallery invites you to celebrate Lightpool with them at their late-night opening on Friday 20th October, where the gallery will remain open until 7pm. 

In addition, you are invited to attend the Lightpool Creative Conference on Saturday 21st October.  Visit Eventbrite for full information and to book your free tickets.

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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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Collective Futures Second Meeting – 10th July 2023

A photograph of Jessica El Mal's Cyanotype images of rain presented at Castlefield Gallery.
Installation View: Jessica El Mal, Spring Rain 09.12.2022. Photography by Jules Lister.

The second introduction to Collective Futures incorporated a curator and artist-led tour of The Poetics of Water, an exhibition by Jessica El Mal and Parham Ghalamdar at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester.  Curator Matthew Pendergast situated the exhibition in the context of Castlefield Gallery’s origins as an artist-led space with a purpose of supporting artists in the North West and as part of Hybrid Futures – a pilot project which explores how artwork is cared for, collected, commissioned, acquired and transported.  Exhibiting artists, Parham Ghalamdar described the overlap between his practice and the climate collapse in terms of the existential concerns he has experienced as an asylum seeker and the fragility of democracy and life standards that could immediately change through the unfolding of political unrest or a threat to national/ individual security.  Parham spoke about his new departure into ceramics  – a material that can be both wet and dry at the same time, gloopy and solid or both dirty and beautiful. Parham hopes to reveal the ‘social, collective way to think outside the binaries’, to be conscious of our own carbon footprint and create space for conversation.


The Collective shared a meal together prepared by the Open Kitchen –  a catering company who are committed to producing food in the most sustainable and ethical way. Dinner conversation included singing the praises of domestic spiders whose webs act as natural air filters and a call to do less cleaning, Louise Bourgeois’ spiders – stitching, weaving, mending, the emergence of mosquitos specific to the London Underground, red earthworm sausages found in the Philippines, climate-aware photography, presenting data connected artistically/creatively, utopian and dystopian futures and personal and collective responsibilities.  Discussion was expansive covering the failing education system compared with the regenerative activism of children through cultivation of sphagnum moss set against play, art, culture as vehicles for learning.

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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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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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Collective Futures First Meeting – 26th June 2023

Collective Futures graphic. Text reads: Collective Futures.

Collective Futures began with a warm welcome of foraged pine needle tea. Introductions focused on connection to place followed by role and finally our names which brought a spaciousness to the room – a personal sharing and insight.

Sam Pickett began with a talk. The Collective explored her exhibition through an informal comment and reflection session. Conversations about the gendered experience of being in natural spaces and feeling of fear transitioned to cultural fear of public spaces. Living with nature, side by side, such as the difference between pets and pests and the desirability of weeds and edibles were explored.  Acts of foraging for natural dyes, accessibility of scientific data, community participation methodologies and what is deemed a ‘wild’ space were interrogated. This led the group to question whether the artist’s role should be to challenge resistance by working with people who contest ‘wild’ spaces’ and what managed and unmanaged nature is.

Debbie Yare gave an introduction to her work which focused on how the landscape supported her return to health and looked at low cost artistic practice in financial and environmental perspectives. Her talk centred on what it means to be alive in a place and be alive to a place. Debbie spoke about frustration for ‘ecosystems and service’ which relates to what humans can get out of nature, a term she felt was extractive.

Debbie Yare gave an introduction to her work which focused on how the landscape supported her return to health and looked at low cost artistic practice in financial and environmental perspectives. Her talk centred on what it means to be alive in a place and be alive to a place. Debbie spoke about frustration for ‘ecosystems and service’ which relates to what humans can get out of nature, a term she felt was extractive.

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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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