Graduates showcased at Launchpad exhibition

THREE graduates from the Manchester School of Art have been chosen for this year’s Launchpad exhibition at Castlefield Gallery. 

Ian Malhotra, Emily Rusby, and Sunshinejack were co-selected by CG’s Director Kwong Lee and Manchester School of Art Head of Art and Associate Dean Penny Macbeth, from the 2014 BA (Hons) Fine Art and Interactive Arts degree shows.

Launch Pad: Manchester School of Art, Graduates 2014 is the second in a series of three annual exhibitions profiling the most promising artists coming out of the school.

Penny Macbeth said: “Castlefield Gallery is renowned for the exceptional work it does in supporting early career artists. Launch Pad: Manchester School of Art, Graduates 2014 is a wonderful opportunity for three of our graduates to produce new work in the supportive environment the Castlefield Gallery team provide. Ian, Emily and Jack will benefit from the exceptional mentoring provided by the Castlefield Gallery team and the opportunity to develop new work in response to an exhibition commission.”

Most promising

Kwong Lee said “Over its 30 years history, Castlefield Gallery has worked with students, graduates, lecturers, researchers, course leaders and department heads as artists, advisors and experts in the field of contemporary art.

“The quality of graduating students from the BA (Hons) Fine Art and Interactive Arts 2014 courses was exceptionally high and we are really pleased to be able to platform three of the most promising graduates from the year at our flagship off-site project space, New Art Spaces Federation House.”

For this exhibition Malhotra, Rusby, and Sunshinejack present new work including drawing, video and sculpture. Though their practices are diverse, a conversation about the effects of technology on our lives runs throughout the exhibition; with references to the exchange of goods and information, government secrecy, warfare, and human interaction via digital media.

Data, code and secrets

Rusby’s recent work is informed by the continued stockpiling of data by governments and big business, largely without the permission of the people surveyed; treating individuals like data machines that create constant streams of information to be harvested and commodified. For this exhibition, Rusby’s Untitled Vending Machine 2 (2015) invites visitors to participate as the custodians and disseminators of information.

Malhotra interrupts the instantaneous transfer of imagery across the internet with his labored drawings which reproduce images found online with Morse code. Though repetition each of the handmade marks that make up Malhotra’s drawings are unavoidably unique, unlike the determinate 1 or 0 of binary code. Manifesting digital images with an almost 200 year-old system of communication based on the same binary system used in modern computing, presents potential mixed messages about the sensory side of technologies.

Sunshinejack appropriates material from many sources, including working with leaked footage of US military action, terrorist activity on social media and retro toys to produce sculptural and video works. At times with a dark sense of humour, Sunshinejack’s work, like the work of the other artists in the exhibition, expresses both the power and ubiquity of modern technologies. The ease of their availability and potential to do just as much bad as good, hiding or leaking secrets, communicating with friends, spying on strangers, documenting our lives and alienating us from reality.

The exhibition opens tonight and runs until Sunday at CG New Art Spaces, on Federation Street. For more information, visit www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk