Exhibition: The Social Lives of Objects, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, until July 19 2009.
Castlefield Gallery's latest show is nothing if not contemporary. Taking inspiration from an essay by Bruno Latour, a cult French social theorist who can be seen chugging merrily at a Shisha pipe on his Facebook fan page, it invites three relatively recent graduates to examine our relationship with the material world. They do this through reinterpretations of everyday objects, referencing social and anthropological research and personal memory along the way.
The trio involved seem well-placed to attack the challenge. Manchester artist Hilary Jack likes finding discarded material on city streets, in charity shops and on eBay (she publicly "repaired" the arm of a porcelain figurine by remoulding it with sticky chewing gum) and is the co-curator of Apartment, an artist-led project and exhibition space operating from a one-bedroom council flat.
Last year she organised a mystical group show called Sex and Witchcraft at London's Transition Gallery with fellow exhibitor Lisa Penny, who debuted in Berlin in 2007 and is Director of the politically charged 1,000,000 Mph Gallery in the capital.
Dallas Seitz founded that Gallery in 2001, and the multi award-winning, Canadian-born sculptor and video artist counts a film of his father killing a coyote and a series of dismembered heads on poles among his more memorable works. He should enjoy the "dark and playful narrative" of an exhibition contemplating "the powerful and poetic relationship we have with material goods in a world overflowing with 'stuff'."
Tour and discussion with the artists takes place at the Gallery on June 18, 6pm-8pm. Admission free, booking required, call 0161 832 8034.
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