In Search of Contemporary Art: Raqib Shaw @ The Whitworth - Lucy 17/07/17
If you go down to the gallery today you're in for a big surprise. Yes Manchester, I am looking at you. For a city that prides itself on being a cultural hub, I can't help but ask: where has all the contemporary art gone? Over the next fortnight, I'll be searching high and low for the best contemporary art that my city has to offer.... The problem is I've just got to find it.
When The Whitworth re-opened in 2014, it quickly became a widely recognised centre for 'The Contemporary'. Big names such as Cornelia Parker and Sarah Lucas joined the gallery, for its £15,000,000 grand re-opening on February 14th. Rather romantically each visitor was invited to 'fall in love again' and how could we not?
Today I went back to The Whitworth after a long time away, and it hardly swept me off my feet. To be honest, it was more like visiting an old ex and realising that he has redecorated. He replaced your favourite chair and moved the painting that you used to stare at every day before work. Falling in love again was far gone.
In this case, The Whitworth has quite literally redecorated. The gallery has opted for a shade of navy and an orange colour not too dissimilar from that of the gone off Orangina next to Emin's bed. I understand the institutional issues surrounding 'white walls' and the need to create culture context, but is this a step too far?
As I walked through the gallery, the walls were then adorned by wallpaper specially commissioned from Raqib Shaw to coincide with her exhibition. Undoubtedly this is a curational nod to the beautifully crafted hangings and carpets of the Eastern World. However, in-situ it just does not work in the small and dark space. Joining the wallpaper is an accumulation of Japanese Objects selected by Shaw from The Whitworth's collection. Another questionable decision, as Shaw admittingly has never visited the country, and it all just seems a little overwhelmingly thrown together.
Maybe I was looking in all the wrong places for the contemporary.
But, you know it’s bad when you start photographing rubbish on the floor (that was quickly swept away by the invigilator) because it looked similar to a Ryan Gander you saw last summer.
