Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Lincoln
Unspooling: artists & cinema
Context
Curated exhibition of 20 international artists that explored how artists are responding to new possibilities for cinema by reviewing analogue technologies and diverse media in the digital realm. The exhibition was part of the 'Abandon Normal Devices' festival (various locations across the North West of England, 2010) and was Cornerhouse’s 25th birthday celebratory exhibition (Manchester, 2011).
Process and Insight
The exhibition arose from the co-curators’ research and art practices, such as Bracey’s artworks 'The Jump' and 'Frames'. The curatorial strategy was to use art works as a way to investigate what the future of cinema might be and, in turn, to re-imagine the gallery as a ‘cinema space' and, importantly, to feature a wide range of media and processes including sound, painting, drawing, film and video.
Sharing
The exhibition was previewed in a-n (Oct 2010), Flux (Autumn 2010), The Guardian (Oct 2010) and The Times (Oct 2010) and was reviewed in Art Monthly (no 341) and as a feature article by Maria Walsh in Art Monthly (no. 342). The exhibition was attended by 20,366 visitors between October 2, 2010-January 9, 2011 and was funded by bodies including Arts Council England, Austrian Cultural Forum, Embassy of Finland in London, Flemish Authorities and Finnish Fund For Artistic Exchange.
The exhibition was supplemented by a 64-page catalogue, including an essay by Bracey, and events including 'Kinematic – UnSpooling Projectors', a night of cinematic performance featuring some of the world's leading exponents of live, improvised and expanded cinema at Manchester’s Greenroom theatre; a screening and in conversation with Rosa Barba; and an academic roundtable discussion co-organised with the University of Manchester. This featured a keynote contribution from Professor Janet Harbord (Queen Mary, University of London). The stand-alone website included 3 commissioned critical essays by Daniel Miller, Laura Allsop and Eliza Tan (http://unspooling.org/discussion.php).
