An exhibition of work by Sophie MacCorquodale, the winner of the Crosby Manchester Art prize for 2006
Manchester Art Gallery
Saturday 20 January 2007–Sunday 8 April 2007
Free
The Crosby Homes Manchester Art Prize offers young artists the opportunity to enjoy a solo exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery and produce a publication.
Sophie chose to create a film in Rhyl, North Wales, filming in a series of locations including the Sun Centre, caravan sites, amusement arcades and some of the older buildings in the seaside town. Local residents and holiday makers from across generations played the actors in a film which sets out to explore the nostalgic aura of a traditional seaside town, how we romanticise the past and how that contrasts with actual experience.
Exhibition Introductory Panel
Waiting for the day
Sophie MacCorquodale
20 January – 8 April
Sophie MacCorquodale is a young artist from Greater Manchester
who won the 2006 Crosby Homes Manchester Art Prize, an annual award for outstanding new talent which, that year, was selected by Enrico Lunghi, Artistic Director of Casino Luxembourg.
MacCorquodale is a video artist who made new work for this exhibition
filmed in the seaside town of Rhyl, North Wales.
Contrasting scenes of escapism and fun with vulnerability and decline,
MacCorquodale combined poetic scenes of landscapes with documentary footage of residents and holiday makers shot in caravan parks, arcades, a Labour club, and the indoor water park.
Her films evoke an aura of romanticism and nostalgia often recognised in traditional seaside towns, but explore the disparity that lies between our romanticised memories and the reality of our actual experience.
The Crosby Homes Manchester Art Prize is sponsored by Crosby Lend Lease.
Artist biography
1978
Born in Oldham
2001-2004
B.A. Fine Art, Goldsmiths College.
2000-2001
BTEC Art and Design Foundation, Manchester Metropolitan University.
Solo Exhibitions
2007
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester.
2006
Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Group Exhibitions
2005
Slayer Rules, The Pearl Fisher Gallery, London
2005
Artists in Fashion, 291Gallery, London
2004
Slayer Rules, The Numbers Gallery, London
2004
Ipswich Art Festival, Ipswich
2003
Hiding Hysteria, Vasteras Ung Kultur,Vasteras, Sweden
Screenings
2006
Our Day Out by the Sea, The Big Picture in conjunction with Cornerhouse, The Big Screen, Manchester.
2006
Slayer Rules, Super Sonic Festival, Birmingham.
2005
Slayer Rules, New York Independent Film Festival, New York.
2005
Slayer Rules, Shopping Trolley, New Port Arts Centre, Isle of Wight.
2004
Rough Trade and Eat Your Ears, (collaboration with Richard Turner Walker) ICA, London.
2003
Film Night, Whitechapel Project Space, London.
Prizes
2005
Crosby Homes Manchester Art Prize, Winner, 2006.
BT New Media Award, Runner up.
Catalogue
Sophie MacCorquodale’s first solo publication with full colour photographs and video stills. Featuring essays by Enrico Lunghi, Thomas Keogh and Jean Friesen.
32 pages, softback, 235x155mm
66 colour illustrations
Published by Manchester Art Gallery
0-901673-71-4/978-0-901673-71-8
