Hidden Manchester

- Write exhibition rationale

- Paint the space

- Collect visual media from AV store

- Make sure all the technology works as planned

- Hang work

- Borrow mirror plates from the technicians to hang work

- Rearrange the lighting in the space

- Proof read and print exhibition catalogues and maps

- Order, collect and install vinyl sticker on wall

- Update social media event

- Sweep the floor 

- Smile and talk to visitors

- Take down the work

The catalogues are here, in matching teal green and white colour scheme to match the posters and all other exhibition material. We want our visitors to take a copy and read more about each group member’s work and contribution to the theme and the exhibition. 

Hidden Manchester launches tomorrow (23rd February) for staff, students and members of the public who want to pop by and have a look at our work! By that time everything will be in its proper place around the space ready to welcome our lovely visitors, but at the moment, we are working very hard to make sure that everything looks perfect!

Who knew that putting up a vinyl wall sticker was such a stressful experience and hanging things on the wall, so tricky! 

Here are some behind the scenes pictures of the work happening in the space as we set up for the exhibition.

Tension levels rise and silence falls upon the room as vinyl wall sticker is put up. 

Vinyl sticker successfully installed and looking pretty good, getting interesting looks from Venus.

Exhibition catalogues printed and stapled, drying out after being sprayed with Fixative. 

Hanging up some of the work and testing the projection! 

That’s the way to go - looking good!

Curatorial team in deep discussion about how to hang work on the wall. We can do this guys!

Quite a bit of deliberation, discussion, desperation, and measuring later...

Hidden Manchester brings together a group of international artists and curators who respond to the term ‘hidden’ in relation to the city through their respective practices. The theme ‘hidden’ emerged after collectively exploring ways of documenting the city, as a way of individually expounding upon the subject. Whether interpreting ‘hidden’ literally or figuratively, each artist and curator uses their own experience and understanding of the city to draw a particular aspect of Manchester to the viewer’s attention.

‘Hidden’ in this exhibition is considered in terms of elements that become normalised, and thus are hidden in plain sight, the unknown and the unfamiliar and the unique gaze of the newcomer onto their surroundings. The exhibition makes use of different media such as photography, video, drawing, textiles and found objects gathered from around the city.

Today, we received some great news and got to know that it is possible to use the Grosvenor Gallery in Grosvenor Building for our exhibition. As the space is already laid out as a gallery, it will be much easier to prepare it for the show and show the work appropriately. 

We don’t have to repaint the whole wall, for starters and the lighting is much more suitable. We’ve also got much more space to work with, therefore the artists no longer have any restriction on how large their work can be. 

We might have to turn around some plans and rethink things such as where the work will be placed in order to maintain the narrative and also show the pieces in the best possible light. We’ve also got to redesign how the exhibition will be navigated through by the audience, but the most important thing is WE HAVE NOW GOT THE PERFECT SPACE!

As the event day draws closer, the curators start intervening on the space and refining the concept of ‘Hidden Manchester’ into the final outcome that will be presented to the viewer. 

Some of the things they have been discussing include the floor plan, the distribution of the works across the exhibition space, the modifications that need to be carried out on the space as well as the type and content of the exhibition material that will be distributed to the audience throughout the event.

The exhibition will be held in The Shed, which is the current Digital Innovation space at MMU and originally used to house scientific laboratories. The scientific elements in the design of the building are still eminent and this presents benefits as well as drawbacks for ‘Hidden Manchester’. The major set back is that since the space being used is not intended to hold and exhibit art, a considerable amount of work is necessary to transform it into an appropriate exhibition space.

On the other hand, the basic layout of the exhibition is already in place as the white panelling that runs around the perimeter of the room (visible in the picture) is rather suitable for the purpose. In addition, other physical elements of the room such as a certain section of the floor and the ceiling, give it a certain industrial feel that fits with Manchester’s character. 

The curatorial team aims to integrate these characteristics within the theme and play upon their presence in such a way that it feels like the city, or at least some aspects of it, are being recreated indoors. Certain works that will be shown will also help achieve this effect. Initial ideas of how and where the works should be positioned have also been laid out, but this will become more apparent later on as the artists finalise their pieces. 

Hidden Manchester is being curated by:

Guy Curtis

Dana Hreapca

Apapat Jai-in

Katarina Sobolciakova

The design work of the exhibition material is well underway. The poster, the catalogue and the social media banner follow a simple 2-colour concept that makes direct reference to the theme and plays on layout. Paradoxically, on the banner and the poster, Hidden is clearly visible and draws one’s eye. Manchester lilts in and out of sight, suggesting that what’s hidden waits to be discovered - by the artists who uncover aspects of the city by responding to the theme and by the audience who looks at their work. 

Other elements, namely the extensive presence of teal green and the font type also recur from one unit to the other. This flow contributes towards solidifying the identity of the exhibition. The dominant teal green colour that takes over the exhibition material complements the theme of something hidden as it is almost reminiscent of a long and looming shadow that wraps up and tucks away aspects of one’s surroundings from within sight. This metaphorical shadow can stand for what is really elusive and inaccessible to one’s eyes as well as what is conveniently left unseen or easily overlooked; hidden in plain sight.

The boxy sans serif font type can be considered quite clean and unsophisticated. It is designed to stand out, be read easily and that’s pretty much it. In a way, this effect feeds the theme, not quite because it represents the theme visually, but rather because the viewer’s gaze is actually not meant to fix itself on the title at length but is needed to be looking elsewhere.

The viewer’s eyes are required to look for what’s hidden, look for hidden meaning, look around, look at familiar things with a new perspective, look for the unfamiliar and look at the unfamiliar, look away, look back again and inform the thought process through the act of looking in the context of living in the city.

PS: The design work was created by Iris Hammwoehner and Guy Curtis.

Some exhibition materials that inspired the work for Hidden Manchester:

Some of the contributors to this exhibition project share their interpretation of the theme ‘Hidden Manchester’, that will also be the title of the show. How does the theme appeal to them and how do they respond to it through their work? 

Apapat: I am using photography to illustrate similarities between Manchester and Bangkok, my home city, by capturing scenes from both cities and combining two pictures to form a complete unit. My intention is to tell stories about an unknown city, in this case Manchester, from the perspectives of a newcomer or outsider who is still finding their place within the city. At the same time, locals or those who are familiar to the city, are able to look at Manchester beneath a new light when they are presented with the city’s resemblance to another city situated 9,600km away. 

Jane: Returning to my home city of Manchester after an absence of almost 30 years, I am intrigued by the changes that have taken place throughout that time. Inspired to research my city’s history and the architectural changes that are noticeable as I walk through the city, I was inspired to create Manchester undergarments that correspond with the theme. Underwear is the most seemingly egalitarian of garments and generally hidden, but often says much about its wearer. 

Iris: I am interested in finding out about places and objects that are hidden in the sense that they are not accessible to the public eye as well as considering objects that are hidden in plain sight. The latter could be countless, everyday objects that are overlooked because of their assumed banality, but that are worth examining because they are little pieces of a big puzzle that tell not only something about the city as a whole, but also about ourselves. In a way, we choose what to see, what to pay attention to and what to overlook and this often depends on subjective experience and memories that connect us to our surroundings. 

Warren: The defining characteristics of a city are not necessarily what we notice immediately, but rather details that we look at without really seeing. I am to create a series of documentary style photographs in the style of ‘worktown’ to encapsulate the modern working class that make up a large portion of the population and character of Manchester. 

David: I am exploring the changing dynamics of street art which saw a Cities of Hope festival in Manchester last year. An international cast of graffiti artists were invited to make work in the Northern Quarter, images that take some finding, unless you know already where they are. The festival benefitted from public funding and each artist had a social cause or issue that they wanted to explore, expose and bring to the attention of the people of Manchester. The event was seen in part as a contribution to the cultural life of the city and to its economic advantage. The images produced sit with the idea of the city as a museum and for some, as art that could be happily placed in a gallery and sold on t-shirts. The pieces are physically located among a wide range of other, more challenging graffiti images that may not be perceived as gallery material but are, nonetheless, a visual documentation of the social context. 

Alex: I love animals and nature and I am concerned by the fact that these are often overlooked in such a bustling and thriving city. My attention is drawn by the ‘hidden’ wildlife living in the city that most people often consider as vermin. My idea is to create anthropomorphic illustrations of animals that are widely regarded as vermin and depict them as humans going about their daily life in and around Manchester.

The Options unit presents postgraduate students from across all the disciplines offered at Manchester School of Art, the opportunity to choose a subject area that they would like to explore further in order to enhance their core practice. As a result, the Options unit creates room for collaboration among students from various disciplines as they come together to work on a major project. 

City as Museum explores the city as a repository for objects, patterns of behaviour, the position of the museum within the city and implications, the inner workings of the city and the idea of understanding the city by adopting an aerial view of it, among other notions.

This year’s group is composed of students coming from 6 different countries, studying Curating, Photography, Illustration and Textiles and bound by their interest in Manchester and how the city can inspire their work. To fulfill the assessment part of the unit, the group is currently producing an exhibition entitled ‘Hidden Manchester’.