Contemporary Forward

28/11/2019

Check out the review of our current exhibition Jamie Fitzpatrick: He He He He by William Noel Clarke on this is tomorrow. The exhibition is open Tuesday - Saturday 10am - 5pm at Touchstones Rochdale until 7 December 2019.

this is tomorrow - Contemporary Art Magazine: Taking you to some of the most significant art exhibitions around the world.

01/11/2019

Jamie Fitzpatrick’s practice explores how totemic public gestures and figurative rhetoric (such as the flags, sculptures, monuments and plinths) are used to impose forms of power and control upon the viewer.

Inspired by the Borough’s collection of artefacts relating to the Peterloo Massacre, Fitzpatrick has created the new multi-media installation. Featuring a colourful cast of characters, and their conversations on ideas of masculinity, power, authority and national and gender identity, dark instincts, violence and idiocy are to be extracted from the everyday actions and played off against acts of tenderness, intelligence and love.

On display until 7 Decemeber 2019. Open Tuesday - Saturday, 10am-5pm at Touchstones Rochdale.

23/10/2019

Hello there! Have you visited our current exhibition, 'He He He He' by Jamie Fitzpatrick? Pop in and say hello to some surreal and surprisingly chatty characters. We are open Tuesday - Saturday, 10am-5pm.

12/10/2019

Jamie Fitzpatrick's new show 'He He He He', opens today at Touchstones Rochdale. See you at 5pm!

09/10/2019

Do you recognise any of these unusual figures? Here's a sneak peek of Jamie Fitzpatrick's show 'He He He He', which opens this Saturday at Touchstones Rochdale 5 - 7pm.

Fitzpatrick’s practice explores how totemic public gestures and figurative rhetoric (such as the flags, sculptures, monuments and plinths) are used to impose forms of power and control upon the viewer.

Inspired by the Borough’s collection of artefacts relating to the Peterloo Massacre, Fitzpatrick has created the new multi-media installation. Featuring a colourful cast of characters, and their conversations on ideas of masculinity, power, authority and national and gender identity, dark instincts, violence and idiocy are to be extracted from the everyday actions and played off against acts of tenderness, intelligence and love.

04/10/2019

Join us for the Truth to Power Café after the launch of our new season of exhibitions at Touchstones Rochdale. Book your tickets in the link.

Who has power over you and what do you want to say to them? The Truth to Power Cafe invites people of all ages, beliefs, and backgrounds to speak their truth to power in five minutes before a live audience. Join us on the 12 October at Touchstones Rochdale to be inspired, discuss and listen to real accounts from real people, saying what they really want to say to the world.

'The revolutionary potential of theatre at its best and most direct' Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

20/09/2019

We're delighted to be working with award winning artist Helen Cammock next year. For her new commission opening in summer 2020, Helen Cammock, together with a number of Rochdale residents, will redistribute items from the collection and place them, on a temporary basis, into people’s homes and other locations around the town. These short-term loans of this shared community resource will act as the catalyst for a new film by Cammock.

Film and Video Umbrella commissions, curates and produces artists' moving-image works and presents them in collaboration with galleries and other cultural partners.

19/09/2019

Still tickets tonight for a free tour of our current exhibition Nowruz/ New Day. The exhibition closes this Saturday so it's your last chance to see it! Book your place on the link below.

Nowruz/New Day presents the results of the unique collaboration between the Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern Photography, assembled by the British Museum and the V&A and the Global Conversations, a group of refugees who meet on a weekly basis at nearby St. Chad’s Church in Rochdale who co-cur...

12/09/2019

Another huge congratulations to artist Harry Meadley who won Artist of the Year at the Rochdale Sports and Culture Awards. Harry worked with us for over a year on his project 'But what if we tried?' which challenged Touchstones' art gallery team to exhibit as much of our 1600 strong art collection as possible in a single show. Following the process Meadley produced 6 films which documented the challenges faced and a range of critical questions and political discussions around the importance of our cultural heritage and its access to the community. You can watch the episodes on our website. His project received great media coverage through The Guardian and BBC we're excited to see what you do next Harry, well done!

12/09/2019

Congratulations to all the wonderful women who took part in 'Rachel Kneebone: The Dance Project' and won Cultural Event of the Year at the Rochdale Sports and Culture Awards last night. We are immensely proud of you all and delighted to still be working with you on projects a year after the group was formed. You are all truly amazing! A huge shout out to choreographer TC Howard and dance artists Debbie Miller, Beth Payton and Ellen Turner for taking these women on an incredible journey. We're excited for the future!

11/09/2019

Last year artist Maeve Rendle premiered a 'live' performance at Touchstones Rochdale drawing on recent political events and rhetoric. For her follow up exhibition she revisits this work in the new form of an installation incorporating text sound and silence. The exhibition opens this Saturday 14th September.