Project Description:

“Mixing It Up” presents a series of aesthetic projects by Manchester-based artists and collectives that challenge the perceived “identities” of some of the city of Manchester’s most well known and trafficked urban spaces—Curry Mile, named for its many South Asian restaurants and shops; Canal Street, the epicenter of the Gay Village; and the area that connects the two, the Oxford Road Cultural Corridor, the latter named for the concentration of cultural institutions along the eponymously named road.

Artists question the homogeneity of urban spaces by subverting, confusing, or “mixing up” our now habitual expectations of them. In turn, this mixing up shifts expectations about the people generally found in these spaces, potentially transforming preconceptions about “gay,” “South Asian,” and other kinds of Mancunian subjects.

This project also mixes up expectations about art, enriching the aesthetic experience by including artwork and educational projects in a range of venues—sometimes unexpected—from Curry Mile to Canal Street, including cultural institutions, bars and restaurants. In turn, mixing venues will encourage a mixing of viewing audiences.

All projects interrogate the citizen’s role in (re-) shaping individual and collective urban identities.

Project Venues:

CURRY MILE

• Sangam Restaurant, 9-19 Wilmslow Road: Oct 2-14: Installation of PROJECT #1: Sphere:dreamz (bed); Oct 12, 6pm: PROJECT #3: Queer, Urban Walking Project will begin/end at Sangam followed by  PROJECT #2: Generosity Cake Project

OXFORD ROAD

• The Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester:Oct 2-14: Installation of PROJECT #1: Sphere:dreamz (bed)
  

• Contact Lounge, Contact: Sep 6, 7:30-8:30pm: Readings of poetry by queer, South Asian women by Sphere participant, Jaheda Choudhury.  30 minutes in length.
  

• Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester: Dec 3, 6:30-8pm: Concluding Panel, “Role of Aesthetics in (Re)-Shaping a Cosmopolitan Manchester”
  

• Cornerhouse: Sep 7-Nov 11: PROJECT #1: Sphere: dreamz(organza screens) and newly commissioned digital mural and short video, A Wakening; Nov 2, 10:30am-1pm: School Programme (Y 12): Mapping Art: Psychogeographies

GAY VILLAGE

• The Joseph Perrier Lounge, Taurus Bar and Restaurant, 1 Canal Street:  Oct 2, 6-8pm: (start point) PROJECT #3: Queer, Urban Walking Project by Doorstep Collective; Nov 22, 7-8pm: MIXING IT UP FINALE: Queer, Urban Performance by Ajah

http://mixingitupmanchester.blogspot.com