Exhibitions in Manchester and the North

Katie Evans, Exhibitions Editor

It’s a month of witty and playful exhibitions, with September’s offerings throwing away the rule book by embracing larger-than-life installations or a rare thing in the art world – humour!

Moving from East to West, Mike Nelson’s Hybrid Scripts in Sunderland’s Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art invites viewers to enter profound and uncanny alternate realities in his signature immersive style. Meanwhile, Johnathan Baldock’s Touch Wood at Yorkshire Sculpture Park explores the relationship between nature and church, craftmanship and creativity, all with a playful wink and a nod.

In Stockport, Mura Ma’s experimental Live With It blurs the boundaries between domestic and creative space, and over in Liverpool, the iconic Sir Ken Dodd is celebrated in Happiness!, a showcase of his life and work as surreal and theatrical as his comedy. And mark your diaries for the return of the annual Lightpool Festival next month, as Blackpool promises to put on a kaleidoscopic show of world-class light artists, including the unmissable work of Chila Kumari Singh Burman, MBE.

Our top picks

British Textile Biennial 2023 at Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery and other venues

British Textile Biennial at Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Lancashire, 29 September–29 October 2023, free entry - Find Out More

Showcasing boundary-pushing artistry from around the globe, the British Textile Biennial is back with a month of unmissable installations.

British Textile Biennial 2023
Dead White Man, Jeremy Hutchison, 2023 Photo credit – Dani Pujalteile Biennia

The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2023 at Victoria Baths

The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair at Victoria Baths, Manchester, 19–22 October 2023, from £7 - Book now

The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair is back, with gorgeous designs and wonderful workshops, set in the glamour of Manchester’s Victoria Baths.

Yuta Segawa

Jonathan Baldock: Touch Wood at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Jonathan Baldock: Touch Wood at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Yorkshire, 23 September 2023–14 April 2024, from £9.00 - Book now

Johnathan Baldock has created a witty and visually sumptuous installation that asks, exactly whose version of history are we collectively preserving?

Touch Wood
Installation view: Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art, group exhibition, Hayward Gallery, London, England (2022). Copyright Jonathan Baldock. Courtesy the artist and Hayward Gallery, London. Photo by Mark Blower.

Mike Nelson: Hybrid Scripts at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art

Mike Nelson: Hybrid Scripts at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, North East, 23 September 2023–21 January 2024, free entry - Find Out More

Drawing on science fiction and dark political histories, ‘Hybrid Scripts’ invites viewers to enter profound and uncanny alternate realities.

Mike Nelson, Lionheart, 1997. Installation view, The New Art Gallery Walsall, 2018. Photo: Jonathan Shaw. Courtesy the artist and 303 Gallery, New York; Galleria Franco Noero, Turin; Matt’s Gallery, London; and neugerriemschneider, Berlin.

Seeing Remains at Oceans Apart Gallery

Seeing Remains at Oceans Apart Gallery, Manchester, Until 14 October 2023, free entry - Visit now

Ranging from the sculptural to the slick, ‘Seeing Remains’ showcases paintings by established abstract artists from across the UK and beyond.

Seeing Remains
Simon Burton, Monad head (Dawn), Oil and studio waste on canvas on panel, 30 × 37.5 × 2.5 cm, 2021

Live With It: An Artists’ House Installation at Mura Ma

Live With It: An Artists’ House Installation at Mura Ma, Stockport, Until 21 October 2023, free entry - Visit now

Part exhibition, part performance, ‘Live With It’ is an experimental showcase that blurs the boundaries between domestic spaces and artistic practice.

Kat Button

Lightpool Festival at Blackpool Promenade

LightPool Festival at Blackpool Promenade, 20–28 October 2023, free entry - Find Out More

Blackpool’s beloved Lightpool Festival returns in October with a packed programme of world-class light art installations.

Lightpool Festival
Chila Kumari Singh Burman, MBE, 'Lollies in Love with Light', Lightpool Festival

Happiness! at Museum of Liverpool

Happiness! at Museum of Liverpool, Liverpool, Until 3 March 2024, from £2.50 - Book now

From the famous tickling sticks to his side-kick Dicky Mint, Happiness! brings the story of Ken Dodd and his magical world to life

Ken on stage wearing a sombrero. Source: Peter Rogan

Hurvin Anderson: Salon Paintings at The Hepworth Wakefield

Hurvin Anderson: Salon Paintings at The Hepworth Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Until 5 November 2023, from £12.00 - Book now

Painting one barbershop over fifteen years – Hurvin Anderson: Salon Paintings proves it’s not mirrors but artists who reflect the beautiful mundanity of life.

 

 

Hurvin Anderson: Salon Paintings
Hurvin Anderson, Barbershop, 2006. © Hurvin Anderson. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo: Todd White Photography.

Light and Soul – Early Impressions of the French Landscape at Cooper Gallery

Light and Soul – Early Impressions of the French Landscape at Cooper Gallery, South Yorkshire, Until 7 October 2023, free entry - Visit now

Cinematic sunsets, rocky outcrops and mythical woodlands – Light and Soul is a landscape painting masterclass not to be missed!

Light and Soul
Cooper Gallery

A Phantom’s Vibe at esea contemporary

A Phantom’s Vibe at esea contemporary, Manchester, Until 29 October 2023, free entry - Visit now

From Hong Kong to Moss Side via Jamaica: be transported through the power of music at esea’s latest, A Phantom’s Vibe

 

 

A Phantom’s Vibe
Dinu Li: A Phantom's Vibe - Herb Vendor (detail), 2023. Courtesy of the artist.

Unpicking Couture at Manchester Art Gallery

Unpicking Couture at Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, Until 12 July 2025, free entry - Visit now

Whether you’re a high-fashion fanatic or just couture curious, get up close and personal with pivotal moments in fashion history.

 

 

Unpicking Couture
Image: Dress, Pierre Cardin, 1994

Albrecht Dürer’s Material World at The Whitworth

Albrecht Dürer’s Material World at The Whitworth, Manchester, Until 10 March 2024, free entry - Visit now

Step back in time to Renaissance Nuremberg with The Whitworth‘s first major exhibition of works by Albrecht Dürer in over half a century.

 

 

Albrecht Dürer’s Material World.
Albrecht Dürer, Landscape with a Cannon, 1518. Courtesy, The Whitworth, The University of Manchester.

Sonia Boyce: Feeling Her Way at Leeds Art Gallery

Sonia Boyce: Feeling Her Way at Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds, Until 5 November 2023, free entry - Visit now

See Sonia Boyce’s work originally created for the 59th Venice Biennale right here on our doorstep, at Leeds Art Gallery.

 

 

via Leeds Inspired

Afra Eisma: splashdown tender at The Tetley

Afra Eisma: splashdown tender at The Tetley, Until 22 October 2023, free entry - Visit now

Afra Eisma is not afraid of bold colours and difficult emotions, which is perfectly embodied by her new show at Leeds’ The Tetley.

 

 

Afra Eisma, So are our joy softness and love, 2022. Installation view, Crying until laughing/Sírás nevetésig, Trafó Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, 2022. Courtesy Trafó Gallery and 1646. Photo: Dávid Biró

Photie Man: 50 Years of Tom Wood at Walker Art Gallery

Photie Man: 50 Years of Tom Wood at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Until 7 January 2024, 9, with concessions - Book now

Tom Wood’s street photography perfectly captures the spirit of the passing decades in this major retrospective of his work at the Walker.

 

 

Pink lipstick (for Tracy and Vicky), 1984 © Tom Wood Archive, courtesy of National Museums Liverpool

Hybrid Futures: The Poetics of Water at Castlefield Gallery

Hybrid Futures: The Poetics of Water at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, Until 24 September 2023, free entry - Visit now

Jessica El Mal and Parham Ghalamdar focus on the symbolism and significance of water, in the context of humans’ complicated relationship to nature across the world.

 

 

Sara Benabdallah

Erwin Wurm: Trap of the Truth at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Erwin Wurm: Trap of the Truth at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Yorkshire, Until 28 April 2024, free entry - Visit now

Erwin Wurm’s sculptures are incredible objects to look and interact with, while also providing some light relief from the more serious side of fine art that we often encounter today. His love for the absurd and unexpected makes for a truly memorable (and funny) display.

 

 

© Studio Erwin Wurm, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

More exhibitions events

Bonfire Night in Manchester and the North
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Father John Misty and Friends at The Piece Hall
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