40 Years of the Future: WINDOWS and Degrees of Duality

About

Together with Castlefield Gallery, guest curator Kate Bryan (Broadcaster and Curator) has selected artist Matthew Wood’s proposal for 40 Years of the Future: WINDOWS. Wood will create a breathtaking series of large-scale monochrome drawings, realised in his bold, distinctive and fluid style. Wood will create new work applying high flow acrylic directly onto the glass and across the windows of our regional venues. In Manchester, Wood’s lively drawings will also occupy Castlefield Gallery's double height space. Visitors will be invited inside to immerse themselves in his work.   

Launching with Wood’s multisite commission, Castlefield Gallery Associate and Manchester Open Awardee Kay Shah will transform the lower level of Castlefield Gallery’s Manchester venue into an immersive environment. Shah’s 40 Years of the Future: Degrees of Duality, will be a large-scale installation simultaneously operating as a multifunctional space.

Shah’s work delves into the artist’s relationship with culture and identity; the spaces they create are a way to explore bi-cultural identity from an intercultural perspective.

Degrees of Duality will incorporate motifs drawn from different cultural traditions. References will include the fleur-de-lis, predominantly used in Europe, appearing alongside geometric and tessellated patterns that are more often found in Pakistani architectural design. Shah’s installation will play with space - open and closed, physical and digital, toying with our perceptions and encouraging visitors to physically and mentally wander. Shah’s hope is that Degrees of Duality will feed the imagination.

The installation will be designed to incorporate other artists' works and to allow other groups of creatives, as well as community activities, to hold space. To this end the gallery will be inviting artists, creative and community networks from around the region to take up residence. The space is planned to act as a temporary home for housing a diverse array of pop-up activities. Expected are talks, readings, screenings, performance, creative workshops, and more. The hope is that Degrees of Duality will be activated as a space to gather, connect or simply take some time out.

Throughout the exhibition period Castlefield Gallery’s top floor will be transformed into a pop-up shop and social space, interspersed with ephemera and items from the gallery’s 40 year archive. Visitors will be able to settle in with a complimentary warm drink, explore archive materials and a selection of the gallery’s print portfolio, which will be available to purchase, including prints by the likes of Mark Leckey, Rachel Goodyear, Gordon Cheung and more. Prints will feature alongside books, artist multiples and limited editions.