Manchester School of Art alumni collaborate on new exhibition at HOME
14 January 2025
Manchester School of Art alumni George Gibson and Grace Collins have recently collaborated on a new exhibition ‘The Fourth Wall’ focused on the dissolution of barriers between art and audience.
‘The Fourth Wall’, which is available to visit at HOME until January 19th, sees George Gibson, a bookbinding technician at Manchester Met collaborate once again with Grace Collins, following their previous joint project ‘Archives At Play’ which explored the nature and purpose of archival materials.
The new body of work explores the concept of breaking the fourth wall, a cinematic and theatrical device where actors address the audience directly, often by looking straight into the camera. Via elements of printmaking, sculpture and self-publishing, the duo ask if this sense of connection can be recreated in a gallery setting.
They used a combination of techniques, one of these being risograph printing using the facilities at The Lowry building and Chatham at Manchester Met, to create a stunning visual display.
However, George explained that there were many obstacles that nearly prevented the exhibition from taking place: “This body of work was actually formed from two rejections… the first was a rejection for an open call for exhibitions in the Granada Gallery space at HOME. Myself and G wanted to create a follow up from the work we made together for Archives at Play, elaborating on some leftover thoughts we had from working together while adding in our shared interest in fandom and world-building, so we sent in an application. The selection ultimately went to another artist, but HOME got in touch to say they would like to fund the project if we applied for Arts Council funding alongside their budget, as they saw potential for it to be developed further. This was great as it gave us exactly what we wanted, plus extra time and some help with our first funding application. Then came to second rejection: Arts Council. This was a bit of a blow at first, but as the project was shaping up to being centred around questioning audience participation in the arts, a rejection siting ‘public need’ ended up spurring us on further. We thought about reapplying, but instead decided to run with the idea of the exhibition being more about the process of working within and questioning all these art world systems.
The exhibition draws inspiration from HOME’s history and film programme, looking into the kind of obsessive internet deep-dives that film fans know all too well. The work is an ongoing conversation of world-building and fandom — one that includes artists, cultural workers, gallery visitors and film fans. The work was developed through research and consultation with HOME Staff, the HOME Young Film collective and HOME audiences.
George commented on how integral this collaboration with HOME was to the project: “Other than the rejections, the work was massively informed by the workshops we ran at HOME — one with their staff, one with their Young Film Club and one inviting the public. I’ve really loved working with HOME, in particular Alice Wilde (Artist Development Producer). Alice is such a wonderful producer and is all about looking after artists. This is the first time both me and G have exhibited in a publicly funded gallery as just a duo, as opposed to within a group show, so it’s really meant a lot to be shown that level of care. I’m looking forward to continuing my shared practice with G and working with HOME again in the future.
The exhibition has brought together the perspectives, obsessions, and fandoms of all film lovers.
Yet, George expressed how the work continues to develop in the thoughts that arise in those who visit and experience the exhibition: “The reaction to the work has been great! I think a lot of the debating and going round in circles within the mind map is relatable if you’re in the arts. But I hope that even without that perspective it can be a interesting look into mine and G’s practice and the processes participatory artists go through. Even if a visitor is just interested in the film elements — my highlight was introducing a special screening of Gremlins 2: The New Batch (a film mentioned multiple times in the exhibition) at HOME in November. Everyone seemed to have so much fun watching it together, including me”.
The exhibition is open at HOME Granada Galleries until January 19th.
Find out more about ‘The Fourth Wall’.
Follow @msoa.teamprint on Instagram to keep up to date with the work created in the Manchester School of Arts print workshops by staff and students.
