Janine Goldsworthy interrogates smartphone obsession through Guangzhou residency

Janine Goldsworthy, who graduated from MA Fine Art in 2014 and now works as an artist and International Student Experience Tutor with Manchester School of Art, has created a series of pieces which were exhibited at AIP (Arts International Partnership) Gallery, Guangzhou (China) following a residency with the institution.

Motivated by an interest in understanding how young digital natives in China develop a physical relationship with the digital world, Janine explored how smartphones have consumed our in-between time, such as 10 minutes at the bus stop or 5 minutes in a shopping queue.

Throughout the residency, she has conducted research on this topic, taught students at the AIP School, and produced work culminating in the exhibition ‘Killing Time’, which ran at the AIP Gallery from 20 November – 4 December 2016.

Janine commented that ‘the work seeks to understand what I perceive as our intimate relationships with handheld technology and how this restructures our world, how we navigate space, consume knowledge and communicate.

It aims to rest on the ambiguities of things and non-things, or physical and digital material. Components aim to cancel each other out, relieving the work of an over-arching narrative and allowing the viewer space for contemplation and interpretation.

The processes involve folding, tearing and shaping paper and porcelain sculptures, manipulating surface and digital material using projection mapping software.’

Alongside her own work, ‘Killing Time’ also featured three pieces produced by students that Janine taught, responding to the themes of her exhibition.

By working with AIP, Janine is also contributing to the established relationship between the internationally reknowned institution and Manchester School of Art. 

‘AIP (Art Project International) is a foundation level college in Guangzhou. We have been linked to them for a few years now, they run courses for students who want to study in the UK or the USA.’ Explains Alan Holmes, International Director of the School of Art. 

‘The have a really cool gallery space at Redtory, in the former factory district in Guangzhou where they invite international artists and curators to work.

To help us celebrate and cement our relationship with AIP, Janine was invited to work and show at the AIP gallery alongside her time teaching the students at AIP.’