Ghosts move about me patched with histories

Philip Davenport and Nicola Smith
Chinese Art Centre, Manchester, UK 9 - 17 December

Artists' Talk: 9 December 5.30- 6.30pm
Preview Evening: 9 December - 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Tour dates: 9 - 11 December

Ghosts move about me patched with histories is an immersive text/art experience, designed by poet Philip Davenport and performance artist Nicola Smith. Both have previously taken part in artist residencies in Chongqing and will use the exhibition to reflect on their time in China. The show counterpoints the freedom of being in a strange environment with the limits imposed by social control.

Davenport’s text installation is a poem written into wallpaper, covering one side of the gallery. Nicola will act as a deliberately misleading tour guide, taking visitors through the environment created by the pair, including a pause for snacks, some trashy TV and a computer that rewrites Davenport’s words with infinite variations, programmed by poet Tom Jenks. A live chicken will be ‘resident’ in the space.

The artist talk is free but booking is required: please follow the link below for tickets: http://whisper-residency-artists-talk.eventbrite.com/

The tours are free and running as part of the open studio as follows:

9 Dec - 7pm 10 Dec - 1.15pm and 3.30pm 11 Dec - 1.15pm


Special thanks to Tom Jenks and Leftfield, School of Art & Design, University of Salford www.salfordleftfield.co.uk for their help.

Supported by Arts Council England.

Davenport's China journal begins at http://arthur-and-martha.blogspot.com/2009/11/shared-loneliness-philip-davenport.html