12 March 2022 – 3 July 2022
Gallery 2
Go to slide:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Built as monuments to wealth and as fortresses for enlightenment to the masses, this exhibition seeks to explore the role museums, art galleries and civic spaces have in contemporary society where doubt, instability and debate around how our histories are represented and whose voices are remembered dominate.
In 2021 we invited artist Simeon Barclay, poet and playwright Liz Mytton and a small group of local residents (our ‘co-creatives’) to spend time with the Borough’s collections and share their own thoughts and stories through the lens of objects, artwork, personal possessions and live performance.
Whilst the space opens with their varied responses, our intention is for many more contributions and voices to be added and heard (either privately or publicly) over the course of the exhibition period and beyond.
We would like to thank Arts Council England and The Granada Foundation for their generous funding support.
HARD TO REACH!
Following time researching archive material, historic objects and artworks held in the Borough’s collections, artist Simeon Barclay wanted to question Touchstones’ responsibility as a cultural institution within the vibrant multicultural Rochdale community. As he states: “The unquestioned way in which Britain’s social and cultural history has developed, revolving around wealth, respectability and power, has controlled the voice within our museums and galleries, even to this day.”
In his installation Barclay seeks to unpick and break down this dominant voice woven within the collections. While the objects on display look similar to how they are cared for in our stores, each have been thoughtfully selected by Barclay to represent our relationship with them and their connection to each other. Positioning furniture, busts, dress, large portraits and mirrors in carefully planned arrangements to ask the question, are we reflected in these collections?
Putting forward thoughts around belonging, and the place of our communities as stakeholders in shaping our collections and their own stories within the museum space, Barclay intervenes to dismantle the hierarchy of our cultural heritage institutions, to create what he hopes is a more inclusive, representative and engaging civic space for everybody.
Echoes
Similarly to Simeon Barclay, poet and playwright Liz Mytton and a small group of local residents spent time exploring the Borough’s collections. However, unlike Barclay, they have chosen to respond through a range of personal possessions, using them to present their own memories, identities and lived experiences, combining them with fictional accounts to explore and elevate rarely heard voices in the story of Rochdale’s cultural heritage.
In their installation (the recreation of a bedsit one of the participants vividly remembers living in when they first moved to Rochdale) the group will share their objects and stories, exploring themes such as love, loss and the power of place. As well as showing their precious and much loved items in an exhibition case, their stories will also be told through film and a series of live performances taking place throughout the exhibition period.
The dates of the performances are:
Saturday 19 March
Saturday 2 April
Saturday 16 April
Saturday 30 April
Saturday 14 May
Saturday 28 May
Saturday 11 June
Saturday 25 June
We would like to thank Olla Iginla, Olga Kurtianyk, Catherine Lebadou and Kirian Khan for participating in the project and Mary Lange and Alix Harris for their support.
Your voice!
We want to hear about your thoughts, objects and stories. There are a number of ways you can get involved:
- Leave a comment on one of the postcards provided in the galley and then either add to the shelf or post in the box if you’d rather it was private.
- Send us a digital image of a possession that means something to you and tell us why via our online form. We’ll aim to show everything on a growing wall display in the gallery.
- Bring your object with you on one of the ‘show-and-tell’ days and share your story with some of the artists and staff involved in this project. Show-and tell takes place between 1-4pm on the following days:
Saturday 19 March
Saturday 2 April
Saturday 16 April
Saturday 30 April
Saturday 14 May
Saturday 28 May
Saturday 11 June
Saturday 25 June