Steph Huang: There is nothing old under the sun at esea contemporary

Maja Lorkowska, Exhibitions Editor

Visit now

Steph Huang: There is nothing old under the sun

esea contemporary, Manchester
28 September-8 December 2024

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

Steph Huang, 'The Gone Room', 2024, MDF, wallpaper, 45 x 37 x 2.5 cm, courtesy of the artist
Steph Huang
Book now

esea contemporary presents the first solo exhibition by Steph Huang, a multidisciplinary artist and winner of the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award 23/24. 

There is nothing old under the sun is a multilayered exploration of the ethics and history of food production and consumer culture through storytelling with objects. The work is inspired by Huang’s upbringing in Taiwan as well as her travels and professional experience as a chef.

The artist describes materiality as a key focus of her oeuvre, and it is perhaps this sensitivity to material that earned her this year’s MTSA. Her broad skill set includes printing, glassblowing, casting, welding and woodwork all of which are showcased in the exhibition. 

A Regular Arrangement, 2024, plywood, emulsion, bronze. Dimension varies. Photograph by Tim Bowditch. Courtesy of Steph Huang and Standpoint
Photograph by Tim Bowditch. Courtesy of Steph Huang and Standpoint

Huang’s installations are filled with smaller elements, satisfyingly connecting the pieces into a larger whole. The textures, colours and materials chosen create a tension between the intended use of some of the objects and the configurations they’re found in. The resulting work is not prescriptive but alludes to ideas of food and production in ways that can organically trigger the viewer’s own musings on the subject.

In practical terms, the installations in There is nothing old under the sun are minimal yet rich in detail. Glass gherkins rest on a pastel green gauze, on top of a pickle tin all presented to the sounds of a street market in I’m in a pretty pickle (2024). Elsewhere, a large pale pink board with rounded cutouts is the backdrop for a collection of smaller, carefully arranged objects, from bronze branches to wax shells.

I Am in a Pretty Pickle, 2024, hand-dyed silk, hand-blown glass, tin, speaker, battery, sound (00:02:06). Photograph by Tim Bowditch. Courtesy of Steph Huang and Standpoint
raPhotograph by Tim Bowditch. Courtesy of Steph Huang and Standpoint

Huang cites her Taiwanese upbringing as well as her decade-long residency in the UK as central to her process of generating ideas. Far from only basing the work on herself, she states that “field trips are essential, and they also keep my work grounded. Instead of forming an artwork on myself, I create something that reflects the surroundings and resonates with the people.”  Walks through the street markets of London, Paris and her native Taiwan have all fed into the creation of this body of work. 

As part of the MTSA’s National Touring Programme, There is nothing old under the sun was first exhibited at Standpoint in London. Following the show at esea contemporary, the exhibition will tour to Cross Lane Projects in Kendal in March 2025.

Accessibility

  • Parent and Baby
  • Relaxed

What's on at esea contemporary

Where to go near Steph Huang: There is nothing old under the sun at esea contemporary

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Bar 21

A bar in Manchester’s Northern Quarter for fans of television and cinema science fiction. Enjoy food and drink amongst a off-beat selection of movie memorabilia.

Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
This & That Café

Eternally popular curry canteen taking its name from a time when patrons didn’t know what to call their orders, but pointed instead to a bit of “this” and “that”.

Wolf At The Door
Manchester
Restaurant
Wolf At The Door

Three storey bar and restaurant on Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter, from the team behind the Wilderness record store and bar in Withington.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
The Bay Horse Tavern

The Bay Horse Tavern is a laid-back pub based in the dead centre of the Northern Quarter, with a wide range of drinks and food options.

Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Ziferblat Manchester

Ziferblat is a pay as you stay café in the northern quarter, where everything is free – except the time you spend.

Manchester
Shopping Centre
Smithfield Market

The neo-Romanesque arches of this former wholesale food market still stand as a reminder to the Northern Quarter’s mercantile past.

What's on: Exhibitions

Image of a performer dressed as a creepy moon, wearing a beige suit jacket, grinning in front of a lamp
EducationCity Centre
British Science Festival

Enjoy comedy shows to art installations, dynamic performances and more at this amazing celebration of all things science.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

This season’s theatre is gloriously eclectic: from radical cabaret and reinvented classics to new musicals and boundary-pushing performance.

Detail of an abstract sculpture, with burned materials and rusty chicken wire at the centre, with rusted metal bars bent around it.
Exhibitions in the North

Chocolate fountains, beautiful batiks and medieval marginalia - this month's supersized Exhibitions Guide has it all.

Literature Events in the North

The autumn leaves might be falling already, but the harvest is plentiful as the live literature scene gets back into the swing of things after a summer break...

Cinema in the North

This month we recommend a season of Film noir, cult Australian movies and a huge celebration of DIY community cinema.