Contemporary Collector’s Trip to Manchester

The Contemporary Art Society invites Contemporary Collectors members on a two-day visit to see two exciting new contemporary art events being launched this year: ATM08 (Asian Triennial Manchester 2008) and Tatton Park Biennial in Cheshire.

In response to the current global interest in Asian art, the first day of this trip to Manchester provided an opportunity to look at Asian art in a city that is home to one of the largest Asian Communities in Britain and is now host to Britain’s first Asian art triennial (ATM08). 

ATM08 is conceived by Shisha, the UK’s premier international agency for contemporary South Asian crafts and visual arts, in partnership with Castlefield Gallery, Chinese Arts Centre, Cornerhouse, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Metropolitan (through MIRIAD and the Faculty of Art & Design) and The International 3.

The inaugural ATM Programme echoes Manchester’s strong political and social history, reflecting new artistic practice and seeking resonances between Manchester and Asia, by exploring the notion of ‘protest’ in its widest sense. The theme of protest is being used as a starting point for a wide variety of new commissions and the selection of work by artists, from a range of Asian countries.

The programme included viewings of the ATM08 exhibitions and visits to the studios of Manchester-based artists David Mackintosh, Andrew McDonald, Magnus Quaife and Pat Flynn, to consider how the presence of such a large Asian community in the heart of the UK has influenced the local contemporary art scene over the past years.

The first day closes with dinner with Shisha Director, Alnoor Mitha. On the second day of this visit to the North West of England, we travel to Tatton Park, for the first Tatton Park Biennial, curated by Dannielle Arnaud and Jordan Kaplan of Parabola commissioning agency. Home to the Egerton family until 1958 when it was left to the National Trust, Tatton Park is set in extensive gardens and parklands and the 2008 Biennial theme is Botanical Collections and Collectors. Over 30 artists, performers and writers were commissioned to make new works in response to Tatton Park’s gardens, investigating the legacy of collections, collectors and the designed landscape amid current issues of climate change and globalisation. 

On a tour of the Biennial led by Danielle Arnaud, members will see new works by artists including Gayle Chong Kwan (ARTfutures 2007), David Cotterrell, Nicky Coutts, Heather and Ivan Morison (ARTfutures 2007 and 2008), Jacque Nimki and  Paulette Philips.