THE SELF-ISOLATION RESIDENCY 30th MARCH 2021: DAY 366

Currents, situation-specific installation,
space and polythene sheeting,
“Mirabel Studio Opening Event”, Manchester, December 2009.

Currents, situation-specific installation, space and polythene sheeting,
“Mirabel Studio Opening Event”, Manchester, December 2009.

During my MA studies in 2009 I moved my practice to the new Mirabel Studios Complex in Manchester. At the end of 2009 to mark our successful first season the resident artists organised our first Open Studio event.

“Mirabel Studios opened in August 2009 and has quickly become a hub of Manchester’s emerging artists, with graduates and Masters Students from the regions Art Schools including MMU, University of Salford, Liverpool John Moores and University of Huddersfield. The Open studio will take place in artist’s spaces and empty units throughout the maze-like building.”

In what at the time was one of these large empty units, which was also the main thoroughfare, I created Currents. Large polythene dust sheets were attached either side of an existing overhead electrical conduit creating a long narrow walkway as the only option when travelling through the space. The simple act of people walking through this caused the polythene to breathe and ripple as an effect of both the currents of air displaced by this passage and the currents of static electricity created by their movements. The claustrophobic nature of the space within echoed the “maze-like” nature of the building and the hazy light which filtered through the polythene had an unnerving effect on the observer, much like seeing a shadow through a shower curtain.

To be continued...