- Venue
- Cornerhouse
- Location
- North West England
Over three floors at Manchester’s Cornerhouse this show is a comprehensive review of recent work profiling 47 young, new and emerging artists graduating from art schools across the UK. Selectors Ellen Gallagher, Saskia Olde Wolbers, John Stezaker & Wolfgang Tillmans have reviewed over 10,000 slides and hundreds of videos to bring together a showcase of the newest talent.
Southern institutions are well represented with some of my favourites coming from Chelsea College of Art & Design. Alexandra Handal’s compelling 15 minute video piece interweaves several threads using a mix of text, stills, images and sound footage to create a multiple layer of stories that is disturbing, intriguing and also amusing and kept me involved in discovering the narrative right to the end. Amanda Wasielewski’s observational video piece highlights the technically obsessive world of telephone hackers called ‘phreaks’ to give an insight into what surely would be a motivational mystery to most of us. I admire Johanna Piesniewski’s technical skill in representing delicate paintings from photographs taken of ordinary 70’s style offices and stations – small works presented in very large mounts elevating the significance of the images. Myka Baum’s striking large scale black and white photographs conveys her textural interpretations of the lunar landscape. Barbara Wolff’s large scale wall mounted sculptural piece using carpet and resin demonstrates patterns of nature by playing with scale. Curated as a good mix of media, the show probably has a lot less sculpture than two dimensional work but a surprising number of very watchable video pieces that didn’t get me sneaking a guilty peek at my watch. With a comprehensive catalogue well priced at just £10, and a very informative, concise gallery leaflet with a simple statement from each artist, I was left feeling that the artists were well represented by the supporting material, the website and the venue for the show. Well worth visiting before it finishes here in Manchester or in it’s next venue in London in November.