Thursday lates
Manchester Art Gallery is open every Thursday until 9pm.
The gallery adopts a more grown-up mood in the evening. Meet friends for a cheeky beer or glass of wine and forget the hassles of your day when you browse our exhibitions and displays.
There’s often something special going on too, from live music to an artist’s talk. Check below or give us a call for details of what’s happening each week.
.....................................................................................................................
Thursday 16 May
5-9pm
Lost and Found: Museums at Night in Manchester
With Richard Wentworth leading proceedings (thanks to everyone who voted), the city’s museums and galleries are staging a series of evening events that celebrate the depth and diversity, the weirdness and the wonderfulness of the things that people are compelled to collect.
Build a cabinet of curiosities.
Donate your own object at special collections booths set up at Manchester Museum and Manchester Art Gallery; it will be given an acquisition number and used the following night at Whitworth Art Gallery by the artist Richard Wentworth. Your object won’t be returned so it has to be something you’re willing to part with (or leave a photograph or representation of it instead). The Museum and Gallery are particularly interested in curious, strange and unusual objects, as well as things that you think should be in a museum but perhaps aren’t.
The Finders Keepers DJs are in the house (well, the gallery atrium) all night. They'll provide the soundtrack to the surrender of your object, as a series of white-gloved curators guide you through the stages of documentation and acquisition. Will the process make you see your familiar treasure in a new light? What will Richard Wentworth make of your donation? He'll be on hand for part of the evening, so perhaps you'll get the chance to find out.
How to share your object as part of #lovecollecting
If you'd like to share your object as part of #lovecollecting, just Tweet or Instagram an image of an object that you own, collect or that you’ve seen in a museum or gallery using the hashtag #lovecollecting and @MuseumsatNight. Tell us what the object is, where it is and why you like it (we’ve put a couple of examples up — find them using the #lovecollecting hashtag). The best will be collated onto a Pinterest board, and two of those will win tickets to take a mystery bus tour below.
Richard Wentworth’s mystery bus tour of Manchester.
Bus tours run between Manchester Art Gallery and Manchester Museum on Thursday night, and follow a circuitous route devised by the artist Richard Wentworth. Buses leave from both venues at 5.30pm, 6.30pm and 7.30pm, are free and available on a first come, first served basis – just wait at the special bus stops outside both institutions.
Thursday 23 May
7 – 9pm
Home, Land and Sea Art in the Netherlands 1600-1800 special opening night
Manchester City Galleries’ has an exquisite collection of 17th and 18th century Dutch and Flemish paintings that have been brought together in a new exhibition that opens tonight.
From 7pm see evocative paintings of everyday life, stormy seas, calm, peaceful landscapes and still lifes of luxury goods that have been redisplayed to reveal the Netherlands’ great artistic heritage. For the first time, these paintings will be shown alongside works by major contemporary artists: Mat Collishaw, Gavin Turk, Rob and Nick Carter, and 2013 Northern Art Prize nominee Rosalind Nashashibi.
At 7.30pm enjoy an historic music performance by Accordes who will play music by the 17th century Dutch composer and poet Constanijn Huygens (1596-1687) and his circle. The performance includes a lute, theorbo and Baroque guitar. Accordes is a sub group of the larger ensemble Partita.
This exhibition has been curated by Henrietta Ward, The National Gallery Curatorial Trainee supported by the Art Fund.
Thursday 30 May
We Live in Two Worlds
We're showing a selection of films made between 1936 and 1938, including the experimental animations of Len Lye and Norman McLaren, plus some well-loved classics and less well-known films. The screenings will be followed by a discussion.
Come early and get a drink or snack from the Gallery Cafe, to enjoy during the film showing. The screening will start promptly at 6.30pm in the Lecture Theatre.
This is part of the public programme for our exhibition Between the Wars, which presents a selection of Manchester Art Gallery’s fine art collection that explores and celebrates the diversity of British art from the years between the First and Second World Wars.
Booking
Free, booking advised. Book tickets at Eventbrite
6-8.45pm
An Evening of Fashion, Music, Art and Marcel Proust
Join us to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of Marcel Proust's Swann's Way at Manchester Art Gallery in partnership with the University of Manchester.
Enjoy a multi-sensory journey back in time to the late 19th century Parisian salons from which the novel was born, and explore highlighted works from the Gallery's collection that relate to Proust's novel.
Musicians from RNCM will be in the Galleries performing chamber music inspired by late 19th century Paris.
Booking
Free, booking advised. Book tickets at Eventbrite
.....................................................................................................................
Thursday 13 June
Between two worlds
5-9pm
Take a closer look at our Between the Wars exhibition with curator Kate Jesson. Join in with some peace-time knitting with artist Jim Giles, weigh things up with a balance sculpture with artist Sarah Marsh. Share stories using the galleries’ Mary Greg collection. Take a closer look at some 20s and 30s fashion and make your own. Get in the mood with our Barbershop quartet and Charleston Dancing.
Between two worlds has been organised by Valuing Older People cultural champions and friends of Manchester Art Gallery and the Gallery of Costume. Come and join us for a great evening, organised by older people for people of all ages.
No need to book. Feel free to bring a much-loved object from the Between the War years to share with others. Exhibition talk will be from 5-6 p.m. Please contact Ruth Edson on 0161 235 8877 or r.edson@manchester.gov.uk for more information.
7-9pm
Pecha Kucha Night
This Summer Pecha Kucha is making a welcome return to Manchester. If you've never heard of us here is a bit of info:
PechaKucha 20x20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. Each speaker speaks for the duration of the 20 images and once they've finished, their time's up!
PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, holiday snaps - just about anything, really - in the PechaKucha 20x20 format.
The night won't be themed so if you would like to do a presentation contact the Manchester hosts Alex Bird and John Mouncey:
Email: a.bird@manchester.gov.uk j.mouncey@manchester.gov.uk
Booking
Free, but booking advised. Book tickets at Eventbrite
.....................................................................................................................
Thursday 4 July
6.30-8.30
'An Ideal for Manchester Realisable If -' Talk by Dr Michael Harrison
Art for All: Thomas Horsfall's Gift to Manchester is an exhibition about Thomas Horsfall's remarkable Ancoats Art Museum that he set up in 1886.
An illustrated talk that provides a fascinating insight to Manchester's history, art education, philanthropy, and town planning. There will also be an opportunity to look round the exhibition in the Manchester Gallery
Horsfall’s pioneering work in gallery education and his desire to bring art to the people of Manchester had a significant impact on the city’s poor communities, especially children. Horsfall is responsible for changing the law to allow schools to visit museums as part of the curriculum.
Booking
Tickets are £5.99, book at Eventbrite
Cafe bar open until 9pm
Meet up with friends, drop in for food and drink, browse the galleries and shop at your leisure. Our cafe offers a special evening menu of moreish snacks and generous sharing platters with a special selection of wines and beers chosen to complement them.
.....................................................................................................................
