Art Assembly
2022, "Art Assembly co-commission: city as art school" at Manchester Art Gallery
On Saturday 18 June, Art Fund with a collective of Manchester’s leading arts organisations will present the one-day festival, Art Assembly 2022 – City as Art School. The event celebrates the idea of the city as an art school and champions culture as part of educational experiences for all people.
The festival advocating art and creativity is organised by Art Fund with Castlefield Gallery, HOME, Manchester Art Gallery, the Whitworth and The Manchester College. It will present newly co-commissioned and co-created artworks and installations across the city, from established arts venues, busy squares and streets to billboards, pavements and more.
Eight new art works by ten Greater Manchester artists, developed and produced in collaboration with students and learners plus a major project with artist David Blandy and young artists at Venture Arts will be situated throughout the city to explore how everywhere has the potential to become a place of creative learning. Their work encompasses a broad range of media, from film and painting, to textiles, installation, performance and music.
Art Assembly takes place during Our Year which celebrates Manchester’s children and young people with a whole-city approach to help them shape a future that’s safe, happy, healthy and successful. It’s a year of action, together, to create more activities, opportunities, experiences and support.
Parham Ghalamdar is collaborating with Art and Design students from The Manchester College to produce large scale paintings on canvas as well as A.I. generated animations and projections that have been inspired by an exploration of the city’s art scene and its hidden gems.
(CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO CONNECT TO CASTLEFIELD GALLERY'S LEGACY PAGE ABOUT THE CO-COMMISSIONS)
(CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO CONNECT ART FUND'S REPORT ON THE CO-COMMISSIONS)
Memorising the spring for winter, 2022
Parham Ghalamdar
Oil on canvas
Parham Ghalamdar collaborated with the students of The Manchester College to create digital works and paintings capturing the less obvious spaces and beauties of the city. This diptych painting was painted in the evenings after visiting the college inspired by the conversations between Parham and the students. These conversations were focused on contemplating the shifting landscape of Manchester and the creative possibilities of rendering them during the road trips, one to one tutorials and making of paintings in the classroom.
The colour palette was inspired by the vivid colours of the cherry blossoms and the vernal greenery of the Ardwick Green Park which Parham used to walk past on his way to The Manchester College. The paintings are ultimately a poetic celebration of life, growth, and wisdom despite the absurd challenges.
Shifting landscapes, 2022
AI-generated video art
Artists: Ian Cale and Parham Ghalamdar in collaboration with students of the Manchester College (Nina jones, Erica Rafael, Grace Pollitt, Alyssa Kershaw, Sasha Caufield, Millie Down, Georgina Salmon, Wiktoria Wiliczka, Harley Jade Chesworth, Leila Annand, Zoe Webster, Crystal Priest, Fiza Khan, Kira Quinnell, Alishba Hussain, Heidi Simmons - students from The Manchester College
Parham Ghalamdar co-commission with Art & Design students from The Manchester College has created digital works and paintings capturing the less obvious spaces and beauties of the city. Students were asked to produce drawings of urban landscapes and maps of different routes during road trips visiting artist studios, exhibitions, institutions, and art collections. An A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) engine was trained to study student’s drawings alongside drawings and maps of Manchester held in Manchester Art Gallery’s collection to find patterns and similarities in shapes and colours. The results were videos and still images depicting a third inventive apparition of Manchester looking like a shifting cityscape in fluctuation.
Untitled, 2022
Acrylic and spray paint on cotton canvas
Artists: Ian Cale and Parham Ghalamdar in collaboration with Nina Jones, Erica Rafael, Grace Pollitt, Alyssa Kershaw, Sasha Caufield, Millie Down, Georgina Salmon, Wiktoria Wiliczka, Harley Jade Chesworth, Leila Annand, Zoe Webster, Crystal Priest, Fiza Khan, Kira Quinnell, Alishba Hussain, Heidi Simmons - students from The Manchester College
Parham Ghalamdar was commissioned to collaborate with Art & Design students from The Manchester College to create digital works and paintings capturing the less obvious spaces and beauties of the city. The students produced drawings of cityscapes, maps of routes, and colour pallets of Manchester during road trips visiting artist studios, exhibitions, institutions, and art collections. These primary resources were used to produce large scale banner-looking paintings depicting a city in motion and development.
EMBEDDED MEDIA
https://www.youtube.com/embed/mTbEOeIJxqI
https://www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/news/art-assembly-legacies/
