DANIEL STAINCLIFFE AND SARAH SARAH SANDERS
Dec 1 - 23, 2009
Using the residency space.

EASTMAN CHENG : BREATHE RESIDENCY
May 12 - Aug 21, 2010
Eastman views an artwork or ‘object’ as a recorder.
It visualises experience, records her hands movement and in the act of making, it collects the trace of her heart.
For her residency at Chinese Arts Centre, Eastman will observe, analysis and create ‘objects’ from the perspective of a foreigner.
Life and experience form an important part of her practice and the residency.
It will provide her with time and opportunity to live, learn skills from local practitioners and make new works in Manchester.
The experience will enrich her language and bring new elements to her work.
Eastman will then photograph these objects in situ.
Eastman will also be running a series of workshops at Manchester Art Gallery as a trailblazer for the Asia Triennial Manchester in 2011.

TASHA WHITTLE : FIRST STEP
May 15 - Sep 15, 2010
Notes to Self are Illustrated ideas from notes and memories that are written in moments of madness and or clarity. Tasha is a Manchester based artist whose drawings have found themselves onto walls, bags, furniture, posters, flyers, tables, canvas, paper and the odd face. She enjoys cups of tea, moments (not the melting kind) observing and of course creating artworks.
 
Her work is constantly evolving and often relates to personal experiences or observations when in public places with a sub-conscious twist. Characters, text, patterns and organic forms take shape once the pen hits the paper and the music is turned on loud.

CAROL AND LIU DING : LIBERATION
Jun 25 - Aug 14, 2010
Liberation is an exhibition growing out of an ongoing discussion with Carol Yinghua Lu and Liu Ding.
Following the blocked use of a websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube in China.
We have grown increasingly dependent on, involved in, if not completely addicted to the world of the Internet.
We keep ourselves informed, connected and entertained on the Internet.
Internet networking utilities like Facebook make it easy and fast for people around the world to communicate with each other.
There are over 350 millions Facebook users across the world.
We use it for promotion, publishing and campaigning for professional or political purposes.
While the Internet opens up new territories and possibilities, it also generates necessities for drawing limits and boundaries.

INFINTE STROKES : MARY TANG & CATHY WU
Aug 20 - Sep 18, 2010
Ink is a unique art medium, and Chinese ink painting and calligraphy are some of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world with the earliest surviving examples dating back to 221BC. It is a technically demanding art form which requires great skill, concentration and years of training. It embodies every part of Chinese culture and history.
 
To celebrate this unique traditional Chinese art form and express immense gratitude to the long-term service of our workshop leaders, we will be hosting a special summer exhibition for Mary Tang and Cathy Wu. They both have been working with Chinese Arts Centre as workshop leader for the last 20 years. It is also coming to the 50th anniversary of Mary Tang’s teaching career. A series of workshops and demonstrations will be organized during the exhibition period.

FIONA LONG : WHISPER RESIDENCY
Aug 27 - Sep 11, 2010
Fiona Long is a British artist who will be working in collaboration with two artists from our upcoming Infinite Strokes exhibition in order to explore hidden shapes and symbols within Chinese calligraphy.
 
Having graduated in both art and psychology, Fiona is fascinated by in the way in which we cognitively interpret images. Using Chinese calligraphy symbols as the starting point for her research Fiona will be spending the residency investigating Chinese characters and taking part in calligraphy workshops. Her work will focus on symbols which resemble one thing, but in translation mean something completely different.
 
Fiona intends to transform these traditional symbols in the hope that her interpretations alter the meanings of characters whilst also aiming to show how images can transcend language.

CHEN CHIEH-JEN
Oct 2 - Nov 20, 2010
Chinese Arts Centre is pleased to present a solo exhibition of the work of Chen Chieh-jen. The exhibition will be the UK premier of Chen Chieh-jen’s latest video work Empire’s Borders II – Western Enterprises Inc. (2010) together with the single-screen video Empire’s Borders I (2009) and archival material.
 
Internationally acclaimed Taiwanese video artist Chen Chieh-jen sees his work as ‘an act of connection, linking together the history of people who have been excluded from the dominant discourse.’ In his concern with recent history he is acutely aware of Taiwan’s own complex political status as a country with limited international recognition.
press release