An indoor meadow hub, black sound exploration, bird song, disappearing animals, a world without Captain Cook and an artist-led comedy event will take over Middlesbrough town centre this Autumn.
From 26 September to 5 October at multiple venues across Middlesbrough town centre, the North East of England’s largest contemporary art festival returns and once again unfolds in public spaces across the town.
This year’s program, running for 8 action-packed days, features exhibitions, events, and new commissions, asking the questions: "How can we grow a festival?" “Who has the right to take action?" "In what ways does art help us reimagine our communities?"
Over 70 artists will showcase their work across 15 different venues offering visitors film screenings, workshops, exhibitions, and concerts. Not to mention hundreds of mini makers that have been involved in the planning and growing of town centre meadow…
As well as the excited lineup of artists programmed by The Auxiliary Project Space; other cultural & creative organisations will join the town takeover with exhibitions and events. These will be presented by MIMA, Navigator North, Platform A, Hypha, Industrial Coast, Python Gallery, Eden Arts, The Word, 2b Creative, amongst many more.
Now in its seventh year, Middlesbrough Art Week is committed to supporting artists at all career stages and is an avid champion of North East talent. Each year, 20 regional artists are supported to present work spanning installation, painting, performance, and multimedia.
The North East Open Call is the festival’s flagship regional exhibition of artists. Each year 8 artists are selected to present work from across the region that responds to the festival themes. Work is selected by a panel of industry professionals as well as invited curator Penelope Payne. We are delighted to be partnering with Dodds Brown on delivering this exciting exhibition in the centre of Middlesbrough.
The New Graduate Award is a 3-month long studio based professional development programme that aims to show young artists the ‘ropes’ and how to survive as an artist. The programme is supported by Northern School of Art, Newcastle University, Northumbria University, University of Sunderland and School of Art & Industries - Teesside University. The programme also includes a two-day intensive workshop with industry professionals, this year included Previous Turner Prize judge George Vasey and New Contemporaries, the leading organisation in the UK that supports recent art graduates and their development.
This year's festival will welcome UPROOT, a creative collaboration with community leaders, migrant support networks, and schools across the Tees Valley. These groups have collectively grown a flower meadow made up of many mini meadows planted by over 200 young people at various sites this year.
These mini meadows will be uprooted and transported to a central Middlesbrough location that will become the Festival Hub. This meadow hub will host an 8 day program of free events, critical conversations, and creative activities.
Liam Slevin Festival Director said: “We are really happy to say that this year women from 25 nations have taken part in the project along with over 200 school children and folk are very excited about the idea of growing their own meadow, and it being used to create something spectacular in the town centre. It's a metaphor for the whole festival – what folk can do when they get together”
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Our region is continuing to grow its reputation as a fantastic centre for creative industries and events such as Middlesbrough Art Week are vital in nurturing new talent and celebrating the work of our great local artists.
"Through the Festival Scale-Up Programme organisers have supported various events across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool this summer, which not only provide a great time for families but also attract people to our town centres and support our super bbusinesses.”
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Highlights of the Meadow Hub
● Talks by acclaimed artist and writer Jace Clayton, civil rights activist and author Gracie Mae Bradley, and pioneering horticulturalist Nigel Dunnett.
● Jace Clayton, known for his work as DJ/Rupture, will explore musical diasporas.
● Grace Mae Bradley, co-author of Against Borders: The Case for Abolition, will discuss themes of border abolition.
● Nigel Dunnett, a leading voice in ecological garden design, will explore new approaches to public realm design.
Throughout the festival, there will be free, drop-in creative activities for all ages, including workshops on gathering and saving seeds, and opportunities to learn more about the arts in Middlesbrough.
Festival Themes and Key Exhibitions
Voice and Silence:
● Zimbabwean-Scottish artist Natasha Thembiso Ruwona will showcase a new commission, A Troubling, or, A Sonic Refusal, investigating Black sound in relation to geography, using drill and grime music communities in East London as a starting point.
● Amy Dover draws endangered non-human life (a bear, a walrus, a bison) and, once complete, invites the public to rub the drawings out. The public often find it distressing that something so beautiful would be destroyed, which sparks a conversation.
● A new commission by Natasha Themiso Ruwona exploring her current in-depth multifaceted research of black sound. Themes include sound, geography, criminalisation, and musical diaspora.
● Strange Telemetry presents Future Poker, an interactive card game that will likely take form of drop-in workshops, as well as window displays across the town. Players draw a ‘location card’, eg Dublin, a ‘time card’, eg 2100, and then 5 ‘concept cards’ – eg green washing, libertarian etc, and players then discuss and design that city.
● Belgian-born, Mexico-based artist Francis Alÿs will present The Silence of Ani, a film following teenagers as they explore the ancient Armenian city of Ani, playing whistles and flutes that mimic birdsong.
● The Karrabing Film Collective will present Night Fishing with Ancestors, exploring the histories of indigenous communities in Northern Australia and their cultural connections. This film imagines a past where Captain Cook never landed in Australia. Captain Cook was born near Middlesbrough and, needless to say, his name is given to a central square and other landmarks. Karrabing are very excited to be presenting it in Middlesbrough.
Middlesbrough Art Week, born in 2017 and powered by The Auxiliary Project Space, is a festival led by a growing team of artists, curators, and coordinators, fueled by wide-reaching partnerships. MAW supports artist ecologies in the North East, connecting artistic practice and ideas with like-minded peers nationally and internationally, and is committed to practising, not just preaching, principles of fair work and social justice.
Header image: Heena Asikainen - Wing Cradle (Image Sally Jubb)
