Manchester Art Gallery are a seeking a ceramicist to create new work (or add to existing work) using the gallery Trading Station exhibition teahouse as a base. Running alongside the creation of work, we would like the selected ceramicist to deliver a programmes of interventions during the residency period. This can be in the form of creative workshops, demonstrations, performances, films either in the gallery space or online.
Using the Trading Station: How hot drinks shape our lives as a starting point, we are actively looking to select a maker whose works reflects the themes raised within the exhibition.
This residency is offered to early and mid-career ceramicists working in Manchester or within relatively easily access. We invite you through your practice to tell global stories and explore issues that our collections do not address.
Duration of the Residency: 10 days either as 2 x 2 weeks blocks or a solid 2 weeks. Must be completed by 31 March 2022.
Freelance Fee: £2500 plus £500 materials. £500 to create digital content. Inclusive of travel and expenses.
About Trading Stations
Trading Station is an exhibition that explores the history of hot drinks and how they have shaped our lives. Through this exhibition we share the global stories that have impacted our collective experiences of our drinking customs, habits and rituals.
Our journey began through a display of objects relating to tea, coffee, alcohol, sugar and chocolate from a history spanning 400 years. Through this display we explore the origins of coffee in Ethiopia, tea discoveries in China in and the use of chocolate in hot beverages from Mexico to Spain. We also spotlight an important overview of the transnational dealings of the British Empire and Dutch trade merchants within colonial India, how hot beverages were founded on the slave trade and colonization, and the poverty and harsh conditions endured by those forced to grow, pick and deliver the ingredients that are considered a luxury for some and a privilege for others. These stories are all connected and run through the development of Manchester as an industrial city.
At the heart of Trading Station is a gathering space for visitors and groups to use freely. This space is designed to host making workshops, talks and performances and to encourage new debate, thinking and action on how better to live together today.
The gathering space has been shaped and co-designed by a group of 24 people from many groups who regularly use the gallery, working with Manchester-based design studio Standard Practice to realize ideas. The space is open for all to gather, to participate in programmed events and as a space to stop, reflect and take stock.
