We Face Forward: Art from West Africa TodayManchester celebrates London 2012 Festival2 June to 16 September 2012
City-wide exhibition of leading contemporary artists from West Africa ·
Major new installations commissioned for galleries and parks·
Concerts with many world-renowned musicians, including AfroCubism·
Further exhibitions of fashion, photography, football and storytelling ·
African art bus to tour creative activities around Greater Manchester
We Face Forward is a season of contemporary art and music from West Africa, celebrated across Manchester’s galleries, museums, music venues and public spaces, from 2 June to 16 September as part of London 2012 Festival. The exhibitions, concerts, events and community activities recognise both the historic and contemporary links between Manchester and the various countries that make up West Africa. They will explore ideas of economic and cultural exchange, environment and sustainability, and the place of tradition in contemporary culture. The core of the season is a city-wide exhibition of contemporary art from the region, the first major collaboration between Manchester Art Gallery, Whitworth Art Gallery and Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall. It will feature painting, photography, textiles, sculpture, video and sound work from a wide range of internationally acclaimed artists, including Georges Adéagbo, El Anatsui, Romuald Hazoumè and George Osodi. The exhibition will also be the first major display in the UK of work by emerging artists such as Lucy Azubuike, Emeka Ogboh, Charles Okereke, Nyani Quarmyne and Victoria Udondian. New, large-scale installations have been commissioned from Barthélémy Toguo at Manchester Art Gallery, and from Pascale Marthine Tayou at Whitworth Art Gallery. The Gallery of Costume will show work by three esteemed Malian photographers, Malick Sidibé, Abderramane Sakaly and Soungalo Malé, whose archives are being preserved by the National Museum of Mali. Their extraordinary studio and social portraits will be shown alongside West African dress from the gallery collection, photographs by Hamidou Maiga and contemporary fashion pieces from British-Nigerian designer Duro Oluwu. A music programme, curated by Band on the Wall and The Manchester Museum, will feature world-renowned acts including: AfroCubism (the new international supergroup formed by Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club and Toumani Diabaté); a multi-media concert by Niger supergroup The Endless Journey (Mamane Barka and Etran Finatawa); Angelique Kidjo; Jaliba Kuyateh; Kanda Bongo Man and many more to be confirmed. Taking place in music venues and galleries across the city, the season will open with AfroCubism at Bridgewater Hall on Sunday 3 June. Exhibitions and events will also take place at The Manchester Museum and the National Football Museum. The city is hosting nine football matches during the 2012 Olympics and the National Football Museum will present African artists for whom football gives a means to explore protest, politics and social engagement. The Manchester Museum is working with the African Caribbean Carers Group to present a re-interpretation of the Anansi spider stories using the Museum’s natural history and anthropology collections. The programme will be launched with Big Saturday: Manchester Anansi Spider on Saturday 2 June where the story will be performed by the Men’s Room community group, working in partnership with the Royal Exchange Theatre Company. A summer-long creative programme will engage with a range of people right across Greater Manchester. Modelled on the highly decorated taxi-buses that ferry people across Dakar, Accra and Bamako, an art bus will take creative activities out beyond the participating galleries and parks to other locations across the city. To draw the different locations together, artist Meschac Gaba has been commissioned to design an artwork which incorporates the flags of all the West African nations. This colourful motif will be on display at participating galleries and venues. The title for the season is taken from a speech by Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, made in 1960. Stating his resistance to Cold War super powers, Nkrumah’s full quote is “We face neither East nor West: we face forward.” The festival takes its direction from Nkrumah’s statement of independence, deriving inspiration from his sense of West African cultural dynamism. Dr Maria Balshaw, Director of Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester City Galleries, said: “Manchester's connections to West Africa are part of its industrial and trading history. This exhibition brings the dynamism of West African art today to Manchester, as the world comes to the UK for the Olympics.”
Ruth Mackenzie, Director, London 2012 Festival, said: “I am particularly delighted that this exceptional exhibition of art from West Africa will be part of the London 2012 Festival programme bringing once in a lifetime opportunities to experience culture to people across the north west.” http://www.wefaceforward.org/
ENDS For more information, images or interviews with artists please contact Chris Baker or Laura Norton at Colman Getty Consultancy 020 7631 2666 / chris@colmangetty.co.uk / laura@colmangetty.co.uk Notes to Editors About We Face Forward We Face Forward has been developed with the support of a number of individuals and institutions who work in West Africa, hold collections of work or represent artists. Partnerships have been developed with Martin Barlow (Curator, Photo Bienniale du Bamako), Christine Eyene (independent curator), Lubaina Himid (artist), Koyo Kouoh (Director, Raw Material Company, Dakar), October Gallery (London), Robert Devereux (collector), Alan Rice (University of Central Lancashire) and Samuel Sidibé (Director, Musée du Mali). Consultation has also been provided by Bisi Silva (Director, Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos). Confirmed artists include:Georges Adéagbo, Hélène Amazou, Lucy Azubuike, Mohamed Camara , Aboubakar Fofana, Meschac Gaba, Francois-Xavier Gbré, Romuald Hazoumè, Armin Kane, Abdoulaye Konaté, Soungalo Malé, Hamidou Maiga, Nii Obodai, Emeka Ogboh, Abraham Oghobase, Amarachi Okafor, Charles Okereke, Nnenna Okore, Duro Olowu, George Osodi, Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo, Piniang, Nyani Quarmyne, Abderramane Sakaly, Amadou Sanogo, Malick Sidibé, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Barthélémy Toguo, Victoria Udondian Confirmed musicians include: AfroCubism (featuring Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club and Toumani Diabaté), Angelique Kidjo with Manchester World Voices Choir, Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra, Endless Journey (featuring members of Mamane Barka and Etran Finatawa), Kanda Bongo Man, Jaliba Kuyateh & The Kumareh Band, Seckou Keita Band Images of and interviews with all artists are available on request. We Face Forward is supported by Manchester Art Gallery Trust and the Zochonis Charitable Trust. An exhibition catalogue will be available with colour images by all the artists and contextual essays. http://www.wefaceforward.org/
About the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 FestivalThe London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements. Spread over four years, it is designed to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of London 2012 and inspire creativity across all forms of culture, especially among young people.
The culmination of the Cultural Olympiad will be the London 2012 Festival, a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK, from Midsummers Day on 21 June and running until the final day of the Paralympic Games on 9 September 2012.The London 2012 Festival will celebrate the huge range, quality and accessibility of the UK's world-class culture including dance, music, theatre, the visual arts, fashion, film and digital innovation, giving the opportunity for people across the UK to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Principal funders of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival are Arts Council England, Legacy Trust UK and the Olympic Lottery Distributor. BP and BT are Premier Partners of the Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Festival. www.london2012.com/festival About Arts Council England Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2011 and 2015, we will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and an estimated £0.85 billion from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/ About Manchester City Galleries Manchester City Galleries forms part of Manchester City Council’s Neighbourhoods Directorate and is responsible for delivering services on two public sites: Manchester Art Gallery Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall About Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery is a place people come to enjoy and learn about extraordinary art and we welcome more than 400,000 visitors each year. The gallery’s collection spans six hundred years and is celebrated for its 19th century British paintings, especially its major Pre-Raphaelite works. New Director Dr Maria Balshaw is focusing on these rich historic collections and giving them contemporary resonance through an increasingly bold programme of exhibitions and displays. Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL Tel: 0161 235 8888 Textphone: 0161 235 8893 http://www.manchestergalleries.org/ Open Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10am – 5pm Closed Monday (except Bank Holidays) Free entry About Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall Gallery of Costume, based at Platt Hall in Rusholme, houses our Designated collections of clothing and fashion accessories, one of the largest collections in Britain. Following a major eighteen month refurbishment project it reopened in March 2010. Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Rusholme, Manchester, M14 5LL Tel: 0161 245 7245 www.manchestergalleries.org Open Wednesday to Saturday 1.30pm - 4.30pm Free entry About Whitworth Art Gallery Whitworth Art Gallery is part of the University of Manchester. It is home to internationally renowned collections of modern art, textiles, watercolours, prints, drawings and sculpture. Created in 1908 as the first English gallery in a park, Whitworth is today developing a new vision for the role of a university gallery, and is forging stronger connections between park, community and landscape through its development and extension. Whitworth Art Gallery, Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 6ERTel: 0161 275 7450www.manchester.ac.uk/whitworth Open Monday to Saturday 10am - 5pm, Sunday 12 - 4pm. Free entry About The Manchester Museum The Manchester Museum is the UK’s largest university museum and all of its collections are designated by the government as being of national and international importance. As a university museum, The Manchester Museum uses its international collection of human and natural history for enjoyment and inspiration. Working with people from all backgrounds, the Museum provokes debate and reflection about the past, present and future of the earth and its inhabitants. The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL. Tel: 0161 275 2634 www.manchester.ac.uk/museum Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am - 5pm, Sunday, Monday and Bank holidays 11am - 4pmFree Entry About Band on the Wall Band on the Wall has been one of the cornerstones of Manchester's thriving music scene for the greater part of the last century and exists to bring the best music from around the world to the stage. In addition to championing the finest world music, folk, blues and jazz, Band on The Wall was also at the centre of Manchester’s punk scene in the late 1970s where Buzzcocks, The Fall and Joy Division played some of their earliest concerts. It has a global reputation for showcasing a vast array of accomplished and respected artists and musical genres from around the world and is recognised as a venue that promotes equality and diversity through music. Band on the Wall hosts concerts both at its home venue in Manchester's Northern Quarter and at venues and festivals across the country. Since reopening in September 2009, Band on the Wall has been voted Manchester's Best Night Out by City Life (Manchester Tourism Awards, 2010) and Best Small Venue in the North West (NME Magazine, 2011) Band on the Wall is a registered charity run on a not-for-profit basis. It acknowledges the support of Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund and Manchester City Council. Band on the Wall, 25 Swan Street, The Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 5JZ Tel: 0161 834 1786www.bandonthewall.org Box Office Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 5pm - 9pm (later on concert evenings)Closed Sunday (except concert evenings)
Presently in Manchester on a residency to creat work for 'we face forward', Leading arts from West Africa today. outcome to be posted later....stay tuned!
City-wide exhibition of leading contemporary artists from West Africa ·
Major new installations commissioned for galleries and parks·
Concerts with many world-renowned musicians, including AfroCubism·
Further exhibitions of fashion, photography, football and storytelling ·
African art bus to tour creative activities around Greater Manchester
We Face Forward is a season of contemporary art and music from West Africa, celebrated across Manchester’s galleries, museums, music venues and public spaces, from 2 June to 16 September as part of London 2012 Festival. The exhibitions, concerts, events and community activities recognise both the historic and contemporary links between Manchester and the various countries that make up West Africa. They will explore ideas of economic and cultural exchange, environment and sustainability, and the place of tradition in contemporary culture. The core of the season is a city-wide exhibition of contemporary art from the region, the first major collaboration between Manchester Art Gallery, Whitworth Art Gallery and Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall. It will feature painting, photography, textiles, sculpture, video and sound work from a wide range of internationally acclaimed artists, including Georges Adéagbo, El Anatsui, Romuald Hazoumè and George Osodi. The exhibition will also be the first major display in the UK of work by emerging artists such as Lucy Azubuike, Emeka Ogboh, Charles Okereke, Nyani Quarmyne and Victoria Udondian. New, large-scale installations have been commissioned from Barthélémy Toguo at Manchester Art Gallery, and from Pascale Marthine Tayou at Whitworth Art Gallery. The Gallery of Costume will show work by three esteemed Malian photographers, Malick Sidibé, Abderramane Sakaly and Soungalo Malé, whose archives are being preserved by the National Museum of Mali. Their extraordinary studio and social portraits will be shown alongside West African dress from the gallery collection, photographs by Hamidou Maiga and contemporary fashion pieces from British-Nigerian designer Duro Oluwu. A music programme, curated by Band on the Wall and The Manchester Museum, will feature world-renowned acts including: AfroCubism (the new international supergroup formed by Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club and Toumani Diabaté); a multi-media concert by Niger supergroup The Endless Journey (Mamane Barka and Etran Finatawa); Angelique Kidjo; Jaliba Kuyateh; Kanda Bongo Man and many more to be confirmed. Taking place in music venues and galleries across the city, the season will open with AfroCubism at Bridgewater Hall on Sunday 3 June. Exhibitions and events will also take place at The Manchester Museum and the National Football Museum. The city is hosting nine football matches during the 2012 Olympics and the National Football Museum will present African artists for whom football gives a means to explore protest, politics and social engagement. The Manchester Museum is working with the African Caribbean Carers Group to present a re-interpretation of the Anansi spider stories using the Museum’s natural history and anthropology collections. The programme will be launched with Big Saturday: Manchester Anansi Spider on Saturday 2 June where the story will be performed by the Men’s Room community group, working in partnership with the Royal Exchange Theatre Company. A summer-long creative programme will engage with a range of people right across Greater Manchester. Modelled on the highly decorated taxi-buses that ferry people across Dakar, Accra and Bamako, an art bus will take creative activities out beyond the participating galleries and parks to other locations across the city. To draw the different locations together, artist Meschac Gaba has been commissioned to design an artwork which incorporates the flags of all the West African nations. This colourful motif will be on display at participating galleries and venues. The title for the season is taken from a speech by Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, made in 1960. Stating his resistance to Cold War super powers, Nkrumah’s full quote is “We face neither East nor West: we face forward.” The festival takes its direction from Nkrumah’s statement of independence, deriving inspiration from his sense of West African cultural dynamism. Dr Maria Balshaw, Director of Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester City Galleries, said: “Manchester's connections to West Africa are part of its industrial and trading history. This exhibition brings the dynamism of West African art today to Manchester, as the world comes to the UK for the Olympics.”
Ruth Mackenzie, Director, London 2012 Festival, said: “I am particularly delighted that this exceptional exhibition of art from West Africa will be part of the London 2012 Festival programme bringing once in a lifetime opportunities to experience culture to people across the north west.” http://www.wefaceforward.org/
ENDS For more information, images or interviews with artists please contact Chris Baker or Laura Norton at Colman Getty Consultancy 020 7631 2666 / chris@colmangetty.co.uk / laura@colmangetty.co.uk Notes to Editors About We Face Forward We Face Forward has been developed with the support of a number of individuals and institutions who work in West Africa, hold collections of work or represent artists. Partnerships have been developed with Martin Barlow (Curator, Photo Bienniale du Bamako), Christine Eyene (independent curator), Lubaina Himid (artist), Koyo Kouoh (Director, Raw Material Company, Dakar), October Gallery (London), Robert Devereux (collector), Alan Rice (University of Central Lancashire) and Samuel Sidibé (Director, Musée du Mali). Consultation has also been provided by Bisi Silva (Director, Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos). Confirmed artists include:Georges Adéagbo, Hélène Amazou, Lucy Azubuike, Mohamed Camara , Aboubakar Fofana, Meschac Gaba, Francois-Xavier Gbré, Romuald Hazoumè, Armin Kane, Abdoulaye Konaté, Soungalo Malé, Hamidou Maiga, Nii Obodai, Emeka Ogboh, Abraham Oghobase, Amarachi Okafor, Charles Okereke, Nnenna Okore, Duro Olowu, George Osodi, Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo, Piniang, Nyani Quarmyne, Abderramane Sakaly, Amadou Sanogo, Malick Sidibé, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Barthélémy Toguo, Victoria Udondian Confirmed musicians include: AfroCubism (featuring Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club and Toumani Diabaté), Angelique Kidjo with Manchester World Voices Choir, Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra, Endless Journey (featuring members of Mamane Barka and Etran Finatawa), Kanda Bongo Man, Jaliba Kuyateh & The Kumareh Band, Seckou Keita Band Images of and interviews with all artists are available on request. We Face Forward is supported by Manchester Art Gallery Trust and the Zochonis Charitable Trust. An exhibition catalogue will be available with colour images by all the artists and contextual essays. http://www.wefaceforward.org/
About the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 FestivalThe London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements. Spread over four years, it is designed to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of London 2012 and inspire creativity across all forms of culture, especially among young people.
The culmination of the Cultural Olympiad will be the London 2012 Festival, a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK, from Midsummers Day on 21 June and running until the final day of the Paralympic Games on 9 September 2012.The London 2012 Festival will celebrate the huge range, quality and accessibility of the UK's world-class culture including dance, music, theatre, the visual arts, fashion, film and digital innovation, giving the opportunity for people across the UK to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Principal funders of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival are Arts Council England, Legacy Trust UK and the Olympic Lottery Distributor. BP and BT are Premier Partners of the Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Festival. www.london2012.com/festival About Arts Council England Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2011 and 2015, we will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and an estimated £0.85 billion from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/ About Manchester City Galleries Manchester City Galleries forms part of Manchester City Council’s Neighbourhoods Directorate and is responsible for delivering services on two public sites: Manchester Art Gallery Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall About Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery is a place people come to enjoy and learn about extraordinary art and we welcome more than 400,000 visitors each year. The gallery’s collection spans six hundred years and is celebrated for its 19th century British paintings, especially its major Pre-Raphaelite works. New Director Dr Maria Balshaw is focusing on these rich historic collections and giving them contemporary resonance through an increasingly bold programme of exhibitions and displays. Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL Tel: 0161 235 8888 Textphone: 0161 235 8893 http://www.manchestergalleries.org/ Open Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10am – 5pm Closed Monday (except Bank Holidays) Free entry About Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall Gallery of Costume, based at Platt Hall in Rusholme, houses our Designated collections of clothing and fashion accessories, one of the largest collections in Britain. Following a major eighteen month refurbishment project it reopened in March 2010. Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Rusholme, Manchester, M14 5LL Tel: 0161 245 7245 www.manchestergalleries.org Open Wednesday to Saturday 1.30pm - 4.30pm Free entry About Whitworth Art Gallery Whitworth Art Gallery is part of the University of Manchester. It is home to internationally renowned collections of modern art, textiles, watercolours, prints, drawings and sculpture. Created in 1908 as the first English gallery in a park, Whitworth is today developing a new vision for the role of a university gallery, and is forging stronger connections between park, community and landscape through its development and extension. Whitworth Art Gallery, Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 6ERTel: 0161 275 7450www.manchester.ac.uk/whitworth Open Monday to Saturday 10am - 5pm, Sunday 12 - 4pm. Free entry About The Manchester Museum The Manchester Museum is the UK’s largest university museum and all of its collections are designated by the government as being of national and international importance. As a university museum, The Manchester Museum uses its international collection of human and natural history for enjoyment and inspiration. Working with people from all backgrounds, the Museum provokes debate and reflection about the past, present and future of the earth and its inhabitants. The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL. Tel: 0161 275 2634 www.manchester.ac.uk/museum Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am - 5pm, Sunday, Monday and Bank holidays 11am - 4pmFree Entry About Band on the Wall Band on the Wall has been one of the cornerstones of Manchester's thriving music scene for the greater part of the last century and exists to bring the best music from around the world to the stage. In addition to championing the finest world music, folk, blues and jazz, Band on The Wall was also at the centre of Manchester’s punk scene in the late 1970s where Buzzcocks, The Fall and Joy Division played some of their earliest concerts. It has a global reputation for showcasing a vast array of accomplished and respected artists and musical genres from around the world and is recognised as a venue that promotes equality and diversity through music. Band on the Wall hosts concerts both at its home venue in Manchester's Northern Quarter and at venues and festivals across the country. Since reopening in September 2009, Band on the Wall has been voted Manchester's Best Night Out by City Life (Manchester Tourism Awards, 2010) and Best Small Venue in the North West (NME Magazine, 2011) Band on the Wall is a registered charity run on a not-for-profit basis. It acknowledges the support of Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund and Manchester City Council. Band on the Wall, 25 Swan Street, The Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 5JZ Tel: 0161 834 1786www.bandonthewall.org Box Office Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 5pm - 9pm (later on concert evenings)Closed Sunday (except concert evenings)
Presently in Manchester on a residency to creat work for 'we face forward', Leading arts from West Africa today. outcome to be posted later....stay tuned!
