Creatrix Mag

New York based Go Push Pops inaugurate the premier issue of CREATRIX MAG with their story about their 2014 residency in Manchester's Alex Park and their final performance HOLY CREATRIXXX. Commissioned by Alexandra Arts for Pankhurst in the Park 2014, HOLY CREATRIXXX – ritual gathering, divine incantation and mystical neo-shamanic coven – was Go! Push Pops’ first work overseas and most comprehensive public project to date. They also facilitated a 5-week Holistic Art for Female Empowerment workshop series for the moms and students of St. Mary’s Primary School. Check it out here

Lotte Karlsen solo exhibition 'Sound of Silence' in New York

Press Release

Shimmering Sound of Silence travels across the Atlantic

On Thursday 8 September, Norwegian Artist, Lotte Karlsen will officially open her solo exhibition 'Sound of Silence' in West Chelsea Art studios, New York City, as the final installment of an arts programme connecting female artists across the Atlantic.

Highlights:

• Manchester (UK) based collective, Alexandra Arts, celebrates the final installment of Pankhurst in the Park 2016 arts programme in New York City.
• The solo show entitled 'Sound of Silence' will showcase a glass installation  - by Norwegian artist, Lotte Karlsen.
• The pop-up exhibition will launch on Thursday 8 September 6-8pm at Studio 511, West Chelsea Arts Building, West 26th St. New York, NY, and runs until 24 September.
• The exhibition will be housed inside a small white cube nestled inside artist Scotto Mycklebust's studio - executive producer of the Public Art Squad Project. Visitors will have exclusive access to this private artist studio, which is based in the heart of West Chelsea's Arts district.
• Sarah Gavron, director of award-winning 2015 film, Suffragette, was one of several female artists to have taken part in the Pankhurst in the Park programme, which has also involved New York artists collectives Go! Push Pops and Legacy Fatale.

With an exhibition housed inside a white cube entitled ‘Sound of Silence’, Lotte Karlsen returns to her specialist medium of glass for what will be her first solo show in New York, to create a site specific work which explores and deals with her relationship to her own mortality.

Lotte Karlsen, Artist, founder of Alexandra Arts and curator of Pankhurst in the Park, commented:

“For this final installment of Pankhurst in the Park 2016 in New York City, I’m delighted to have my work showcased in the heart of the west side of Chelsea; NYC’s premier contemporary-art district.

 'Sound of Silence' is an opportunity for me to return to the beginning of my career and specialist medium - glass - which I feel best reflects the fragility of the subject matter. I felt it was time for me to delve deeper and create work that deals with some of the more difficult and darker aspects of my life but through a medium that quite literally shines a light on the more positive outcomes.”

Curated by the Manchester-based, artist-led collective, Alexandra Arts, Pankhurst in the Park 2016 is inspired by Alexandra Park - a Victorian Park in Manchester - and it’s rich historical connection to the Suffrage Movement, whose iconic leader, Emmeline Pankhurst, was born and bred yards from the Park in the neighbouring Moss Side Estate.

This exhibition, Sound of Silence, marks the end of the Pankhurst in the Park 2016 programme, which aims to empower the local communities around Alexandra Park and beyond through engagement with their local environment and social history, and to promote the wealth of talented female artists in Manchester and beyond by providing a platform for their work.

'Sound of Silence' represents a collaboration with Lotte Karlsen, West Chelsea artist Scotto Mycklebust, and artist and feminist writer Katie Cercone, co-founder of NYC radical artist duo Go! Push Pops. Go! Push Pops were artists in residence for Pankhurst in the Park 2014.

'Sound of Silence' will celebrate its opening on Thursday the 8th of September, from 6-8pm, with a public launch and drinks reception. The exhibition is free and open to the public from 8th - 24th September 2016. Opening times are 12-6pm from Tuesday to Saturday, and 6-8pm on Thursdays.  In conjunction with the exhibition, on Thursday the 22nd of September, a new online-based magazine, called ART 511, will also be launched.

For more information, visit: www.alexandra-arts.org.uk.

ENDS

For further information, images and interviews please contact:

Amy Clancy

press@alexandra-arts.org.uk | www.alexandra-arts.org.uk | @AlexArtsMCR   #pankhurstinthepark   

 NOTES TO EDITORS

 Lotte Karlsen

Lotte Karlsen FRSA, born 1974 in Hammerfest, Norway is a multidisciplinary artist working fluidly across the boundaries of fine art, social practice, sculpture and craft. Currently living and working in Manchester, UK. Karlsen earned an early degree in glass blowing from the world renowned Kosta Glass School in Sweden's Crystal Kingdom. Later obtaining an MA in Art as Environment at Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design (MIRIAD), her work in recent years has blurred the lines of conceptualism, artivism and craft. She has exhibited her work in London, Milan, Tokyo, Seoul, Barcelona, Paris, New York and throughout Scandinavia.

http://www.synchronizedliquid.com/#lotte-karlsen

West Chelsea Artist Studios

'Sound of Silence' will be exhibited inside a small white cube inside artist Scotto Mycklebust's studio, which is located in West Chelsea Artist studio complex in New York. The building houses galleries, multiple artists and art dealers, and resides close to the far west side of Chelsea — the city of New York's premier contemporary-art district — which is home to high-profile spaces including Gagosian Gallery and Gladstone Gallery.

http://westchelseaartists.com/

Alexandra Arts

Founded in 2010 by Norwegian Artist, Lotte Karlsen, Alexandra Arts is an artist-led collective based in Manchester's Alexandra Park. The collective aims to empower the local community around the park through engagement with their local environment and social history, and to promote the wealth of talented female artists in Manchester, and beyond, by providing a platform for their work. In 2014, Alexandra Arts established Pankhurst in the Park to highlight Alexandra Park’s rich historical connection to the Suffrage Movement and its inspiring socio-political heritage, which has until now has left no trace locally. 

Pankhurst in the Park 2016

Pankhurst in the Park 2016 is an Arts Council England and Manchester City Council funded, public programme of artist commissions, an international artist in residency and outreach and educational programme, which took place in Manchester from March – May, 2016 and will arrive in New York between August - September, 2016.

Curated by the Manchester-based, artist-led collective, Alexandra Arts, Pankhurst in the Park is inspired by Alexandra Park’s rich historical connection to the Suffrage Movement, whose iconic leader, Emmeline Pankhurst, was born and bred only yards from the Park in the neighbouring Moss Side estate. The 2016 programme, builds on the hugely successful events of 2014/15.

http://www.alexandra-arts.org.uk/pankhurst-in-the-park/

Web shop launch 26th of March

In connection with our Pankhurst in the Gallery event on the 26th of March at Manchester Art Gallery, we are launching a brand new webshop!

Alexandra Arts have been working with Photographer Zuza Grubecka throughout the autumn programming Pankhurst in the Park and we are excited that her signed photo book will be available at our Manchester Art Gallery event. But also in our webshop.

Zuza'a photo of Rodin remake at Withworth Art Gallery was recently featured on Instagram's own blog - http://blog.instagram.com/post/112133477802/150226-zuza-g

The evening also includes a showcase and sale of artworks from this years 's International Artist in Residency Go! Push Pops and their final performance Holy Creatrixxx. We have limited edition screen prints of Katarzyna Jablonska's portrait of Emmeline Pankhurst, and signed photo books by Pablo Melchor and Zuza Grubecka . As well as original mono print by Naomi Kashiwagi 

Pankhurst in the Park is part of the fabulous Wonder Woman festival 2015. Check out  creativetourist.com's  Wonder Woman Week Four: The highlights where our event is featured. We are also thrilled that Manchester Confidential picked our Thursday Late Pankhurst in the Park at Manchester Art Gallery as their TOP 10: Exhibitions in March

Artist portrait #3 : Go! Push Pops

Artist portrait of Go! Push Pops, a radical queer performance art collective from New York City directed by American Katie Cercone and Chilean Elisa Garcia de la Huerta. The Go! Push Pops was Alexandra Arts first ever International Artist in Residency, during the 'Pankhurst in the Park' Autumn 2014 programming.

HOLY CREATRIXXX: Moss Side Residents, Architects and Artists celebrate feminism

On Friday 28th November at Alexandra Park Pavilion, Moss Side residents will join the radical, feminist art collective Go! Push Pops for a final live performance inspired by the legacy of the iconic, local suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst.

The Go! Push Pops collective, directed by Katie Cercone and Elisa Garcia de la Huerta, was invited to Manchester in September to undertake the first-ever international Artist Residency at Alexandra Park, as part of Alexandra Arts’ Pankhurst in the Park programme. The collective’s forthcoming performance forms part of Pankhurst in the Park’s final Autumn event, which will be hosted by local comedienne, Kerry Leigh.

For two weeks leading up to the final event, Go! Push Pops have invited local residents to become part of an intentional community which will participate in the final live ritual performance, HOLY CREATRIXXX. In addition to the performance, there will be screening of the stop-motion animation film Illuminate with an introduction by Nataly Lebouleux. In collaboration with students from Manchester University's School of Architecture, Architect Julie Fitzpatrick will also be exhibiting her new installation at the Pavilion, and music will be provided by The Mighty Quinn.

Following this event, Curator of Pankhurst in the Park, Artist Lotte Karlsen, will join Go! Push Pops at SELECT Art Fair in Miami during Art Basel Miami. There they will support Milk and Night, a collective of guest artists and curators who explore the role of feminism in the art world.

Commenting on the programme, Lotte Karlsen said:
"We are thrilled that the Pankhurst in the Park has attracted such broad interest and involvement locally, and I am delighted to have been invited to SELECT Art Fair in Miami to share my work and the inspiration behind Pankhurst in the Park."

Commenting on the contributions from Moss Side, Coco Dolle, Founding Director of Milk and Night, said:

"Our booth at Select Fair comes forth as a unique project on the map of Miami Art Basel, the only commercial booth solely dedicated to feminist artists and its various conversations. We will stand as ambassadors of this feminine consciousness and activate its presence on the art market."

Since launching in September this year, hundreds of artists and local residents have visited Alexandra Park to take part in the Pankhurst in the Park programme, which aims to create a platform for female artists in the birthplace of Suffragette leader, Emmeline Pankhurst. The Autumn programme has featured woodland exhibitions, artist talks, and even hosted workshops as part of the international drawing festival, The Big Draw.

The final event is free to attend, however booking is essential. Bookings can be made online: https://www.facebook.com/events/369224939918691/ or Evenbrite Suitable for over 18s only.

Comments, photos, and interviews are available. Please contact Amy Clancy, email press@alexandra-arts.org.uk.