LET'S face it, it’s cold and invariably windy out there. If we’re not getting drenched then we’re dodging soaring empty bags of Monster Munch. The sensible and safe option therefore, is to stay indoors. Indoors, however, doesn’t have to mean lounging around at home watching Audrey and Gail, or sometimes both of them. No, indoors can also means in-doors outside of your own door, if you see what we’re getting at. And where better than a museum or gallery, the cathedrals of civilized society and high-brow culture. Get out (or in) there and expand your horizons, educate yourself, pump up the pomposity…
…Plus it’s all free, gratis, nada, zilchio.
Cornerhouse
Anguish and Enthusiasm: What Do You Do With Your Revolution Once You’ve Got It?
13 April - 18 August FREE
This group exhibition of new and contemporary art collected from across the globe will take a compelling look at the key ingredients that constitute a successful revolution. With the collapsed states and civil wars left in the wake of the Arab uprisings and the desire in recent years to throttle bankers, hackers, MPs and basically anyone with power, this exhibition poses the appropriately timed questions of What makes a successful revolution? And who gets to decide?
Visit cornerhouse.org
Imperial War Museum North
Iraq: Photographs by Sean Smith
9 March - July 2014 - FREE
Now a decade old, the Iraqi conflict began on 19 March 2003 when coalition forces entered Iraq and began a controversial and tumultuous campaign of ‘Shock and Awe’. Three weeks later the imposing statue of Saddam Hussein had been pulled down and the dictator’s rule was over. The conflict however, was far from complete. The Guardian’s award-winning photographer and filmmaker Sean Smith was in the heart of Baghdad in the lead up to the invasion and stayed as the first bombs hit. To mark the tenth anniversary IMW North is launching a powerful display portraying his view on the conflict.
Visit iwm.org.uk
John Rylands Library
Burning Bright - William Blake
8 February - 23 June, Tours 1-2pm on the 26 February and 15 March - FREE
When William Blake died in 1827 he was widely considered mad, a lunatic in fact. His hand-painted and self-engraved Books of Innocence and Experience had sold a grand total of 20 books in 30 years, hardly E.L. James or Dan Brown. Yet, he is now regarded as one of the most influential figures in both English literature and art. This exhibition focuses on Blake’s achievements in the art of books, displaying for the first time some exciting new finds from within the library’s own collection. An event not to be missed for devotees of the grand English canon.
Visit library.manchester.ac.uk
John Rylands Library
Mancunian Freuds
12 & 23 March, 12-1pm - FREE
Would you believe the founding father of psychoanalysis and staunch advocate of cocaine, Sigmund Freud himself, had a link with Manchester? You wouldn’t? In which case you better get yourself over to John Rylands Library to explore the collection of correspondence between Freud and his close relatives who moved to Manchester in 1859. These events offer an intriguing and often humorous insight into the life of the most famous and influential figure in the history of psychology.
Visit library.manchester.ac.uk
Manchester Art Gallery
Raqib Shaw
15 February - 26 May - FREE
Conjuring up mystical worlds, fantastical imagery, and intensely colourful dream-like scenes, Shaw is a superstar of the contemporary art world. Intricate floral designs are mixed with whimsical and beastly figures with a heavy nod to art of an eastern persuasion. This will be Shaw’s largest solo exhibition to date, featuring 28 recent (some previously unseen) works. The gallery itself will be transformed with magical installations showcasing Shaw’s passion for flora spilling out into the rest of the gallery and even streaming out on to the exterior of the building. If you’re a modern arty type, you’ll appreciate the talent of Raqib Shaw.
Visit manchestergalleries.org
Manchester Museum
Breed: The British & Their Dogs
Ending 14 April - FREE
From the Churchillian British bulldog to Dean Gaffney’s Wellard. From Spot the Dog to Pickles, the mongrel that found the stolen ’66 World Cup. From Crufts to… well you get the idea, we British do love our dogs. This endearing exhibition explores the affectionate relationship between the British people and our canine chums. Harking back to the very beginnings of pedigree breeding in Britain, the exhibition focuses on six pedigree breeds each highlighting an individual connection with British history and culture.
Visit museum.manchester.ac.uk
MOSI
Sigune Hamann: Wave
Ending 3 March - FREE
What’s in a wave? A greeting? A goodbye? An attempt to bypass a situation in which a difficult explanation is required but one just cannot be arsed? This intriguing exhibition brings together a selection of images depicting waving figures, capturing moments of friendship, curiosity, joy and heartbreak. Hamann’s is a beautifully simple concept for an exhibition yet one that spans generations, cultures, beliefs, well the globe really… because everybody waves don’t they? Pay a visit to secure your faith in humanity - then go gawk at the internal-combustion engines.
Visit mosi.org.uk
National Football Museum
Strike a Pose: 50 Years of Football & Fashion
1 February - 27 August - FREE
Before Beck’s flounced around in a sarong, an Alice-band strewn proudly across his bounce and fingernails painted black, there were more credible footballing style-icons. Bobby Moore possessed a Steve McQueen-like air of coolness while George Best was dubbed the ‘Fifth Beatle’. However, it was the mods, skinheads and casuals on the terraces that had the biggest impact on the high-street and headlines alike. This exhibition charts the journey fashion and football have taken together over the last half century, plus this could be your only ever chance to see Mourinho’s famous ‘lucky’ jacket. Fantástico!
Visit nationalfootballmuseum.com
People’s History Museum
Demon Drink? Temperance and the Working Class
Ending 24 February - FREE
‘Drinking leads to neglect of duty, moral degradation and crime’ and ‘Strong drink is NOT nourishing’. Punchy taglines indeed for a 150 year-old movement which believed alcohol to be at the heart of the vast majority of social ills. In fact, The Sale of Beer Act of 1854 which attempted to restrict drinking hours was reportedly met with widespread rioting. People, it would seem, like a drink. Who’d have thought it? This intriguing exhibition charts the history of the North West’s abstinence movement in which people pledged not to drink a drop. Homer Simpson once said that ‘beer is the cause and solution to all of life’s problems.’ Simple then. Drink gin: Avoid damnation.
Visit phm.org.uk
People’s History Museum
The Art of Protest
20 April - 30 June - FREE
Presented by NOISEfestival.com this project was launched in response to the Manchester riots in August 2011. Championing high-impact and peaceful protests this exhibit contains work by the infamous and quite annoyingly elusive Banksy, lefty musician/activist Billy Bragg and the bane of The Beatles, Yoko Ono. Alternatively, don’t go to the exhibition, become a hippy and simply stay in bed for a week. Because that worked.
Visit phm.org.uk
Salford Art Gallery
A Tourist in your Own City: The Paintings of Nigel Walker
Ending 10 March - FREE
Nigel Walker devotes his life to capturing the essence of the wonderful folk and street life of Salford and Manchester. After Walker distanced himself from his beloved city to travel the world (and probably find himself), he returned to the city in 2008 with a fresh set of eyes, tinted with the worldly-wise perspective of a traveler, a tourist in his own city. Walker’s travels included a solo 5000 mile bike journey through China and South-East Asia. Cheapskate, flights are dirt-cheap over there.
Visit salford.gov.uk
Whitworth Art Gallery
Nancy Holt: Land Art
20 April - 16 June – FREE
Nancy Holt is best known for her large-scale sculptural work. An early pioneer in conceptual and public art, Nancy Holt is a key figure in the Land Art movement, which began in the late 1960s with artists in New York taking their work out of the gallery and into the landscape.
As well as sculpture, Holt uses photography and film to document her work and also to explore her interest in with memory, perception, time and space. This exhibition focuses on Holt’s photography and film, from Trail Markers (1969) made on a visit to Dartmoor with her husband Robert Smithson, to photographs of Sun Tunnels in The Great Basin Desert in Northern Utah. This exhibition is supplemented by a free talk on Saturday 27 April at 3pm discussing the role of photography within Land Art.
Visit whitworth.manchester.ac.uk
Manchester Musuem
Nature’s Library
From 27 April - FREE
One of Manchester Musuem’s original grade II listed Victorian galleries has been completely refurbished and now offers you the opportunity to explore their vast collection of 4 million preserved animals, plants and fossils collected from around the world. Find out about the origin of these specimens and what they mean to us today.
Visit museum.manchester.ac.uk
Whitworth Art Gallery
Michael Landy: Four Walls
9 Feb - 16 June - FREE
In 1977 Landy’s miner father, John, was seriously injured in a tunnel collapse suffering serious spinal injuries at the age of 37. Rendered housebound, John could no longer do that which he loved most, DIY. Landy’s poignant video Four Walls (sound tracked by John whistling away) pieces together his father’s DIY manuals, tools, magazines and videos coupled with a series of photographs and drawings of optimistic young families attempting to achieve the modern dream home. Expect clogged guttering, blocked drains and skinned knuckles. Handy Landy.
Visit whitworth.manchester.ac.uk
John Rylands Library
While Dreams Sleep by Geoff Brokate and Lit From Within by Kaye Martingale
9 March - 23 June, FREE
Two sister exhibitions exploring both the lives of women in Pakistan and British-born women of Indian and Pakistani descent. The stories in While Dreams Sleep explore both cruelty and courage and highlight the ties of culture and tradition whilst Lit From Within is the result of a project working with people at a local women’s refuge. It tries to understand the issues facing the female children of immigrants.
Visit library.manchester.ac.uk
The Lowry
Unseen Lowry
22 June - 29 September, FREE
A unique opportunity to see never before exhibited works by Lowry which were in the Lowry home at the time of the artist’s death. These include a range - from his earliest sketches to paintings completed in the 1970s. These landscapes, portraits and industrial scenes provide a memorable insight into Lowry’s life and career.
Visit thelowry.com
Manchester Art Gallery
Channel Crossings: English and French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
6 December 2012 - 6 December 2013 - FREE
This exhibition, which replaces the display of work by LS Lowry and Adolphe Valette, looks at the lightness and the appeal of French art for a generation of British artists emerging from the confines and strictures of late Victorian painting. British Artists such as John Singer Sargent and Philip Wilson Steer are displayed alongside giants of the French art world such as Renoir and Pissarro.
Visit manchestergalleries.org
