Contested Bodies at The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery

Katie Evans, Exhibitions Editor

Visit now

Contested Bodies

25 October 2023-6 April 2024

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Contested Bodies
Alberta Whittle, C.R.E.A.M., 2017 © The Artist, courtesy of The Artist and The Modern Institute, Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow
Book now

The University of Leeds’ Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery presents Contested Bodies, a group exhibition that examines and celebrates the performativity of gender as a social construct. 

Showcasing the work of contemporary artists from across the globe and spanning a range of media, from painting to sculpture, video to performance, Contested Bodies presents gender as a “cultural fiction with no fixed, natural or innate characteristics.”

The exhibition brings together the work of over 40 artists from across the gender spectrum who make work with or about the body. The list includes Turner Prize nominees Jesse Darling and Sin Wai Kin, and Alberta Whittle, who represented Scotland at the 2022 Venice Biennale and is currently showing at the Whitechapel and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. 

Fracturing the discourses around gender, from queer theories to postcolonial studies, Contested Bodies is a call to action – to transgress, subvert and disrupt imposed gender binaries.

Larry Achiampong, Glyth Series 1 #4, 2013 ©The artist, courtesy of the artist and Copperfield, London.

Where to go near Contested Bodies at The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery

Yorkshire Dance
Leeds
Event venue
Yorkshire Dance

With three well-equipped studios, Yorkshire Dance HQ is a super performance venue for dance, theatre and spoken-word events.

Leeds
Music venue
The Wardrobe

Located in the city’s Art Quarter, The Wardrobe has been contributing to Leeds’ rich live music offering since its opening in 1999.

Colours May Vary Leeds
Leeds
Shop
Colours May Vary

You can spend hours browsing in Colours May Vary for unique and hard-to-find greetings cards, stationary, homeware and magazines. Of especial interest are the one of a kind ceramic ornaments.

Leeds
Restaurant
Sarto Leeds

Sarto, Leeds’s long-awaited pasta restaurant is a joint project between Laynes Espresso and The Brunswick.

The Gallery at 164, Leeds
Leeds
Gallery
The Gallery
at 164

The Gallery at 164 is an independent gallery in Leeds City Centre, exhibiting an eclectic mix of styles and media from both established and emerging talents.

Leeds Conservatoire
Leeds
Leeds Conservatoire

Leeds Conservatoire is the largest specialist conservatoire in the UK, delivering expert music and performing arts education to a community of over 1200 students.

Gallery
Leeds
Gallery
BLANK_

BLANK_is a Leeds-based gallery, run by the School of Creative Arts at University Centre Leeds. It encompasses a physical exhibition space and a publication that showcases new contemporary visual art…

Leeds
Theatre
Leeds Playhouse

Leeds Playhouse is a hub for world class theatre and hosts a wide range of productions throughout the year.

Leeds Kirkgate Market
Leeds
Shop
Leeds Kirkgate Market

Leeds Kirkgate Market is Europe’s biggest covered markets, featuring over 800 stalls, with goods ranging from clothing to fresh produce.

Leeds
Event venue
Leeds Print Workshop

The workshop is a co-operative, membership-based printmaking studio, open to all those with an interest in print.

LEEDS MINSTER
Leeds
Place of worship
Leeds Minster

Leeds Minster is a building rich in history and heritage. Explore the space, light a votive candle or listen to the famous organ when you visit.

Leeds
Restaurant
Eat Your Greens

Eat Your Greens is a vibrant, organic restaurant bringing a hint of European flair to the city’s plant-based dining scene.

What's on: Exhibitions

Woman agaisnt space background
ExhibitionsManchester
(Re)collection at saan1

Across three floors of saan1, three independent curators pursue distinct interpretations of memory, nostalgia and landscape.

Free entry
ExhibitionsManchester
Nothing Gold Can Stay at texture

After recently finding a new home in Cheetham Hill, texture 2.0 hosts its second show, fittingly themed around transience and impermanence.

Free entry
Poster for Bodies in Water. A figure wearing a multicoloured, fringed costume and silver star-shaped headpiece stands knee-deep in a lake beneath dark clouds, with green hills in the distance. Bright green text reads: “Bodies in Water”, “8–25.8.26” and “PV: 7.8.26, 18–21”. Bottom left shows the PINK logo and address: Hilton House, Lord Street, Stockport, SK1 3NA.
Exhibitions
Bodies in Water at PINK

Folklore wraps around human anxiety in this new PINK exhibition, where the dragons and giants of Lake Bala become placeholders for fear itself.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Exhibitions

Summer isn’t usually a high point in the exhibitions calendar, but Greater Manchester’s small galleries seem to have made a pact to change that this year.

“the ripple” artwork by Crowns & Owls courtesy of Good Machine.
Music

From post-industrial romance to experimental country, here's a hot new batch of weird gigs in small venues.

Food and Drink in the North

It's summertime, and the dining choices are easy, thanks to our expert guide to food and drink in Manchester and the North.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre

Discover the summer's most rewarding theatre in libraries, pubs, Fringe venues and unexpected spaces across the North.

Emily Lloyd-Saini as Grace in Space and Harrie Hayes as Lieutenant Strong in Horrible Science
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.