The Sensory War, Manchester Art Gallery

I have been meaning to visit The Sensory War exhibit at the Manchester Art Gallery for a number of weeks now as I had heard a large number of good reviews an recommendations. Normally I don't venture the busy town center on the weekend but learning that it was the exhibition's last weekend was the push that I needed to get me down to the Manchester Art Gallery on a Saturday afternoon.

I am going to join the ranks and shower the exhibition with praise. It was beautiful and haunting at the same time, covering a large number of genres, periods and conflicts. Each piece was accompanied by detailed text that conveyed the background information of each artwork and how the artist was connected to that particular war. I was particularly touched by images created by victims from Hiroshima and Nagasaki; none of the artists were professionals by any means but the images that they created were touching and extremely telling of the horrors of war. 

Visiting The Hepworth Wakefield

Last week I visited The Hepworth Wakefield as part of my Art Gallery and Museum Studies course. As I have iterated before, I am not very fond of contemporary art, it just does not sink in, most of the time I do not see the point; however (and this is a big however) I absolutely loved the Hepworth. I studied Barbara Hepworth briefly at A-level and remember being faintly fond of her work. I liked that the simplicity and curving lines of her pieces are very reminiscent of natural rock formations, albeit rock formations from a strange and alien planet. 

Having only opened in 2011, The Hepworth Wakefield is still very much a new museum and this is reflected in the beautifully modern architecture and flowing, open spaces of the galleries. Upon entering the wide open space of gallery one, I was instantly pulled in by a range of teapots fanned across the floor. It turned out that they were part of an installation piece that included the 3D printer that was printing the teapots live in the gallery. Accompanied by very knowledgeable staff that were keen to share their interest in the piece, we were able to touch the pots and observe the 3D printing at close-quarters. 

The Barbara Hepworth collection itself was quite small for a museum that is dedicated to the artist. The curators have done a great job with what little pieces they had, creating a lovely room in homage to her life (including her tools, drawings and photographs) and a large open space reminiscent of her workshop, dotted here and there with various sculptures and plasters. The architecture of the building does a wonderful job to highlight the simple beauty of her work, with high ceilings, crisp white walls and huge windows that flood the galleries with natural light. 

One highlight of the Hepworth that I strangely enjoyed was the current exhibition of Linda Benglis' work. I had never come across this artist before but I found her work to be very intriguing. Most of it, I just did not understand (the usual distaste in contemporary works came back a few times), but at the same time I thought it to be very aesthetically pleasing and really had to stop myself from reaching out and touching quite a lot of her work. The exhibition was large, larger than expected, and covered a number of rooms. This allowed the visitor to see a range of works from different genres, different media and different stages in the artist's life. It easily explored her travels around the world and demonstrated how the changes in culture had influenced a change in her working practice. 

The Hepworth Wakefield may be a strange place to build a museum such as this (even though it is the artist's home town) and I am slightly disappointed that because of the tricky travel situations, I probably wont be able to get back to the Hepworth any time soon but otherwise it is a lovely little gallery and a definite testament to the life of Barbara Hepworth. 

The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester - Grand Re-opening!

On Saturday I visited the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester for the first day of its grand reopening weekend after being out of action for a £15 million refurbishment. As a Museum studies student and a member of the University of Manchester, it was a very important and exciting event in this year's calendar and has been highly anticipated, especially by the University's AGMS students (Art Gallery & Museum Studies). Having only lived in Manchester since September, I didn't have the fortune to see the gallery before its transformation so I can not successfully give a comparison between the old building and the new. However, what I did find was a beautiful, contemporary space that still held the charm of the original 19th century building while treating the visitor to a modern, open plan gallery. 

Upon entering on Saturday morning, the gallery was already busy and bustling and the staff were obviously excited and eager to help all of the visitors that came through the doors. The new look galleries are spacious, modern and beautiful and highlight The Whitworth's stunning collections. 

I was particularly interested in Cornelia Parker's work, which is the gallery's first major temporary exhibition to mark the reopening. I am the first to admit that I have never been a fan of modern art; I can not often see the beauty in it, (something which bemuses me and annoys my modern-art-loving friends who have to put up with my disappointed sighs) however I found Parker's work to be both fascinating and beautiful. There is a curiosity in her work and often a hidden beauty in the mediums that she uses that I found particularly interesting. I am looking forward to visiting again in order to properly soak in all of her work, as I found the mass of visitors to the gallery that day made it extremely difficult to focus on any one art work for too long. 

With wonderful temporary exhibits alongside beautiful permanent displays, it is no wonder that The Whitworth gained thousands more visitors on its opening weekend than was estimated. I unfortunately couldn't take the crowds after nearly two hours of battling our way around the various rooms and reluctantly retreated to the gardens. However, my next trip is already planned (with part of that plan being to visit the delicious-looking cafe) and I can't wait to soak up all that The Whitworth has to offer!

WITTERQUICK, Mara Tancu and Amy Monzon Top This Week's BEAT100 World Music Video Chart!

WITTERQUICK finish in the top spot of this week's World Music Video Chart with their hit original track 'TheOtherside'! The English band, based in Exeter, only formed 18 months ago but have already made a splash with their debut single gaining over 10,000 views since December. This popularity has also extended to theBEAT100 community; 'The Otherside' shot into the top 5 within its first week of chart entry, quickly rising to1st place just one week later! The upbeat rock track has racked up over 1300 views on BEAT100 alone as well as gaining three Gold Awards from the BEAT100 A&R team. All of the WITTERQUICK members have been part of various bands over the years, honing and developing their talents before finally combining their individual musical tastes 18 months ago. The group have since written over 20 original songs but only the best of the bunch make the final cut. They tell BEAT100 'We pick out the songs we love, the songs that have that energy in them that is so lacking in music for the last decade or so. With the response we’re getting, after only being active for a short while, it’s clear that we’re not alone. We have something that other bands don’t.' Influenced by rock sounds from the 70s and 80s, WITTERQUICK gain their inspiration from bands such as Guns and Roses and Pink Floyd, along with more modern bands who carry this classic rock sound into the 21st century, such as Biffy Clyro and Brand New. The fledgling musicians have made a great start to their musical careers and have gained a great response for their debut track 'The Otherside' which will officially be released on March 10th. Currently, WITTERQUICK are preparing for various support slots over the next few months and, most excitingly, are gearing up to record their debut EP in just three weeks time! Talking to BEAT100 about their upcoming busy schedule, WITTERQUICK say, 'We couldn’t be more excited to get these songs out, and because we’re unsigned we can release what we want, when we want.'

Second place in this week's chart was won by Romanian songstress Mara Tancu! Mara has won over theBEAT100 community with the sweet and strong vocals that she provides on a variety of cover songs. Her winning track this week is a passionate cover of 'Going Nowhere' originally by British girl band, Little Mix. The track has won her three Silver awards and currently has over 1300 views on BEAT100 alone. The young singer gains inspiration from her idol Christina Aguilera as well as other influential young female artists such as Pixie Lott and Little Mix. Mara says that she admires her idols and looks to them when recording her impressive cover tracks, however, she strives to develop her own style and add her own personal twist to her music. Mara tells BEAT100 'Music is my happiness. I feel a great pleasure just listening to it and I am so grateful that God gave me the necessary qualities to be able to sing. Although it's a cliché, MUSIC IS MY LIFE!'. Despite her young years, Mara has taken part in various national and international singing contests, proving her talent and finishing in the Top three in every single one! Mara has also gone so far to claim national TV fame after appearing on the international Next Star Romania contest which aired on one of the country's most popular channels. For now, Mara is working on honing her talent and challenging herself as much as she can in order to perfect her performance and develop her musical style. She aims to one day share the stage with her idols and we are sure that she is not very far away from achieving her goal!

Californian pop star Amy Monzon finished in third place this week with her debut original single 'Love Song'. Amy, from San Diego, California only released 'Love Song' at the beginning of the year but is already gaining amazing recognition, including three Gold awards from the BEAT100 A&R team! As a child Amy would often sing her favourite song, Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On', to her imaginary legions of fans and now it seems that Amy is well on her way to achieving her childhood dream. Amy's love for music continued throughout college after she joined a girl band in her freshman year. After leaving the band to focus on her studies, the budding singer decided to pursue a solo career after her graduation. Despite only beginning to post songs on YouTube one year ago, Amy has already performed at some legendary venues, including House of Blues, Whiskey a Go-Go and Gibson Amphitheater. She also enjoys regularly performing at a variety of venues in her local area and is steadily growing a solid fan base who love her upbeat pop style. Amy's winning track this week, 'Love Song' may have only been released a few weeks ago but the powerful pop production and catchy lyrics make it seem as if the young singer is a seasoned professional. We can see Amy progressing far in her music career and can't wait to see her in the charts again!

Written for www.BEAT100.com