Assemblage: Gatherings on Contemporary Art, 2023 - 2024

Assemblage: Gatherings on Contemporary Art is a series of public events and activities that connect teaching and research at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne. The project examines current and critical topics concerning contemporary art and curatorial practices through an intersectional lens. Each event takes place over multiple days and includes a range of artistic and research presentations, film screenings, talks, panel discussions, exhibitions, and workshops by Northumbria faculty, visiting artists, and scholars. The programme focuses on highlighting, but is not limited to, BIPOC, LGBTIQ+, disabled and neurodiverse perspectives from North-East England and beyond. It also challenges dominant art historical narratives and approaches to visual culture and engages with transnational non-western perspectives.

The project is supported by Art Practice and Conservation Subject Area, the Department of Arts Research Funds, and the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion team at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne and the Finnish Institute UK + Ireland.

Assemblage I:

Body and Politics

25 - 27 October 2023

Wednesday, 25th October 2023

Film Screening: Inner Gods
Location: CCE1 003, Northumbria University

Exhibition Tour with Sunil Gupta and Charan Singh
Location: Vane Gallery, Gateshead

Exhibition Opening: Unlimited Intimacy
Curated by Abdullah Qureshi / Artists: Tessa Boffin, Phyllis Christopher, Sunil Gupta, and Stuart Linden Rhodes, and Charan Singh
Location: Vane Gallery, Gateshead

Thursday, 26th October 2023

Welcome: Julie Crawshaw
Location: Squires Cinema (SQB020a), Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne

Artist Talk: Restore the Boundaries: Mapping Bodies of Water. Speaker: Naiza Khan. Moderator: Abdullah Qureshi
Location: Squires Cinema (SQB020a), Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne

Film Screening: Henna Hands and its Afterlives, Naiza Khan
Location: Location: Squires Cinema (SQB020a), Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne

Panel Discussion: Navigating the Archive: Political Bodies and Histories. Speakers: Phyllis Christopher, Naiza Khan, and Stuart Linden Rhodes. Moderator: Abdullah Qureshi Location: Squires Cinema (SQB020a), Northumbria University.

Contemporary Art Research Forum: Art & Class – Gavin Butt and Janette Parris
Location: Squires Cinema (SQB020a), Northumbria University.

Exhibition: Video Shop Horrors – a project by the Horror Studies Research Group led by Johnny Walker
Location: Gallery North, Northumbria University

Exhibition: Artistic Contributions by Northumbria Faculty
Artists: Charles Danby, Liz Green, Allan Hughes, Kate Liston, Abdullah Qureshi, Ginny Reed, and Cecilia Stenbom
Location: Experimental Studio, Lipman Building, Northumbria University

Friday, 27th October 2023

Processing Practice: Body, Memory, and the Archive Project Presentations: Yasmeen Ghrawi & Naiza Khan. Co-moderated by Abdullah Qureshi and Donna Chambers
Location: SQB 501, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne

Assemblage II:

Time and Space

28 November - 1 December 2023

Tuesday, 28th November 2023

Space Assembly: The Cultural Negotiation of Space Science – organised by CNoS and the Space IDRT. 
Location: Room SQ020 – Squires Cinema, Squires Building.

Wednesday, 29th November 2023

Workshop #1: Alternative Data Analysis (ADA)
Led by Dr Laura Harrington, Cultural Negotiation of Science research group, Northumbria University, and Dr Nicolette Barsdorf Liebchen, Bournemouth University
Location: Experimental Studio, Lipman Building.

Workshop #2: Transplanetary Architectures 
Led by Luis Guzmán & Blanca Pujals, Cultural Negotiation of Science research group, Northumbria University, Monika Brandic Lipinska and Anne-Sophie Belling, Bio-Futures for Transplanetary Habitats research group, Newcastle University
Location: Experimental Studio, Lipman Building.

Workshop #3: Performing Space - SPELLS 
Led by Nahum, KOSMICA Institute
Location: Room 027, Squires Building.

BxNU Discussion: Complex Support Needs, Art and Higher Education – organised in collaboration with Project Art Works. Led by Andrea Phillips
Location: Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead.

Exhibition: Closed Enough
Artists: Amanda Riffo, Brák Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir, Eygló Harðardóttir, Halla Einarsdóttir, Una Björg Magnúsdóttir, Martha Lyons Haywood, Joe Keys and Logi Leó Gunnarsson
Location: Vane Gallery, Gateshead.

Thursday, 30th November 2023

Welcome: Julie Crawshaw 
Location: Squires Cinema, Squires Building

Panel Discussion: Hyphenated Practices: The Porous Boundaries between Artistic Production and Exhibition Making Speakers: Rolina Blok, Lina Hermsdorf, Joe Keys and Una Magnusdottir. Moderator: Abdullah Qureshi 
Location: Room SQB020, Squires Cinema, Squires Building

Intervention: Walking as practice, walking as pedagogy: exploring built environments with Incursions
Location: Starting point: Room SQB020, Squires Cinema, Squires Building

Panel Discussion: Walking as practice, walking as pedagogy: exploring built environments with Incursions
Location: Room SQB020, Squires Cinema, Squires Building.

Films: The CNoS Screening Programme
Location: Experimental Studio, Lipman Building.

Exhibition: LOOP 
Location: Gallery North

Friday, 1st December 2023

Workshop: Praxis In-Action: Documentation as Artistic Research.
Location: Room 501, Squires Building

Assemblage III:
Community and Care

13 - 16 February 2024

Tuesday, 13th February

Contemporary Art Research Forum (CARF): Last Thing Screening and Discussion with Deborah Stratman
Venue: LIP0026, Northumbria University

Wednesday, 14th February

Questionable Tastes? How Sexual Sociality Matter Lecture and Discussion with Professor Susanna Paasonen
Moderated by Dr Rachel Hann
Venue: LIP031, Northumbria University

You Know You Want To. 
Artistic Project by Rolina Blok, Alex Schady, Elizabeth Wright, in collaboration with students from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London
Venue: Vane Gallery

Thursday, 15th February

MARGINALITIES
Research Group Launch and Panel Discussion with Dr Claire Ogah, Dr Sanghita Sen, Dr Reem Refaat Talhouk in conversation with Professor Donna Chambers
Venue: SQB020, Northumbria University

Sweeping Tide: Notes Toward Decolonial Feminisms. Panel Discussion with Tamara Al-Mashouk, Syowia Kyambi, and Sepideh Rahaa in conversation with Abdullah Qureshi
Venue: SQB020, Northumbria University

Sweeping Tide: Notes Toward Decolonial Feminism Exhibition by Tamara Al-Mashouk, Syowia Kyambi, and Sepideh Rahaa, curated by Abdullah Qureshi
Venue: Gallery North and Experimental Studio, Northumbria University

Friday, 16th February

Visiting Galleries and Community Arts Spaces in Glasgow Field Trip for Northumbria University Fine Art and CCIM Students.

Sweeping Tide: Notes Toward Decolonial Feminisms brings together the works of Tamara Al-Mashouk, Syowia Kyambi, and Sepideh Rahaa. Drawing on transnational traditions of women of colour critique of feminist universalism, particularly the scholarship of María Lugones, the exhibition grapples with questions of violent colonial histories, turbulent political and social presents, and imagining futures of solidarity, community, and resistance. Divided in two parts, the exhibition critically examines issues of patriarchy, migration, and race through diverse geo-political positionalities that complicate local and global relationships.

Photographs courtesy: Mark Duffy.

Gallery North and Experimental Studio, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2024

Referencing the 2009 book by Tim Dean, Unlimited Intimacy frames the 1980s and 1990s as a politically charged time for LGBTIQA+ histories and movements. Featuring the works of Tessa Boffin, Phyllis Christopher, Sunil Gupta, Stuart Linden Rhodes, and Charan Singh, the group exhibition surveys critical and radical perspectives on gay and queer sexuality through photographic and documentary practices.

Photographs courtesy: Mark Duffy.

Vane Gallery, Gateshead, 26 October - 18 November 2023

Visit Gallery Website

“I AM AFRAID OF THE AIDS” is a web-gallery curated for Visual AIDS. When approaching the database, I intended to honor the history and memory of BIPOC artists who died of HIV / AIDS-related complications, recognizing their place in the movement. Furthermore, given that the conversation on HIV / AIDS is ongoing and current, I also included artists living with HIV and a community project from South Africa. The latter also demonstrates the importance of addressing HIV / AIDS from a global perspective, particularly taking into account non-Western contexts.

When selecting the artists, I also noticed gaps in the archive, particularly around the representation of and information on BIPOC women, trans, and non-binary artists. Hence, it is important to note that this web gallery is, by no means, a definitive survey of BIPOC artists who died with HIV / AIDS-related complications or are living with HIV / AIDS. Instead, I hope this presentation becomes an invitation to expand BIPOC perspectives on the subject further while working toward a world where no one has to be afraid of "the AIDS."

Over 12 weeks, the Making Gender: LGBTIQ2S+ Studio, a course at OCAD University, Toronto, takes a studio-based approach to look at LGBTIQ2S+ histories, cultures, and subcultures within the context of contemporary art and critical theory. With a particular focus on BIPOC creative practitioners, the students explore the groundbreaking, experimental, and radical strategies that have informed queer art-making. Responding to the course material, the students work toward their individual projects.

Virtual exhibition: makinggender.com

Course led by: Abdullah Qureshi (Winter 2021 & 2022)
Exhibition organising team: Zain Bhanapatel and Andy Chitty

Artists: Grace Bell, Zain Bhanapatel, Tyler Burey, Enzo Chen, Andy Chitty, Alison Clark, Amaaya Dasgupta, Caylen Dort, Yoon Han, Bisma Jay, Yasmine Irani, David King, Lake Kos, Brynn Murphy, Jessica Nummi, Madison Pound, Menelik Powell, Emerald Repard-Denniston, Vanessa Sanginiti, Madelyn Schutz, Ashley Waithe, and Chupei Yu.

Supported by: The Faculty of Art Office, OCAD University and organised in collaboration with the Centre for Feminist Research, York University.