Friday 17 July 2009

a picnictastic artarama of a weekend




It is boring to talk about the weather but forgive me just this once if I say I am hoping for a sunny weekend. A couple of our favourite co-conspiratoprs have organised events that sound splendid and will be so regardless of the rain, but there’s no denying they will be most delightful if soggy sandwiches can be avoided…

First up on Saturday those lovely land girls and single cell are hosting Picnic “showcasing the talent of Manchester’s rising stars and highlighting the lonely plight of forgotten wasteland, inspiring public recalamation of urban green space" Hooray for that we say.

Look for the bunting in Hulme between Bonsall Street and Rolls Crescent (near Old Birley St) between 3 – 5pm. I believe the 1940s theme means costumes are encouraged and plan b in case of emergency (or torrential storms) is decamping to The Yard Theatre.

Wear your socks and sandals with pride, prepare to extol upon the virtue of scones. There will be cakes and lemonade galore, acoustic music, comedy and poetry from Julie E Gordon, Quiet Loner, Paul Leeming, Dominic Berry Aidan Jolly and band plus art activities, rounders and more... Fundraisind for the Swat Valley Crisis Appeal

On Sunday we are thrilled to be accepting an invite to the first Manchester modernist society tea party

“being a most cordial invitation to luncheon in the grass, in the shadow of Gustav Metzger’s Flailing Trees, Manchester Peace Gardens, St Peter’s Square, Sunday 19 July from 2pm, and then on to Procession: An exhibition at Cornerhouse, 4pm- 6pm.

Manchester is currently in festival fever with music, exhibitions and activities literally spilling out of the buildings and into the streets. It’s the perfect opportunity for even the most jaded of city dwellers to re-invigorate those humdrum routines, find new nooks and crannies lurking in the familiar and examine the everyday landscape we all too often take for granted with a more curious eye?

What better way we thought to enjoy the dying embers of the festival and reflect on the installation’s poignant message before its removal to the Whitworth Art Gallery than with a spot of afternoon tea under its temporary shade; our own modest celebration echoing the doubtless more lavish Festival Feast taking place round the corner in the Albert Square pavilion!”


See www.manchestermodernistsociety.org for the full text (and erm where we procured the wonderful picture above from)

So – a weekend of inspiring people, subverting public space, first class art (well, apart from those flailing trees of which more later) and scrummy cake. Sounds like heaven in a wild city to me and will hopefully banish my childhood conviction that to picnic meant sitting in a car at the bottom of beachy head looking at the sea and feeling sad.

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