Blu-tack stuck to a wall. Crumpled A4 paper. A giant helium globe which bobs around the room. Is it art?
Strangeness is landing in Salford with a new exhibition opening at The Lowry.
Wakefield-born Martin Creed will open ExtraORDINARY at the Salford Quays arts centre on Saturday 25 July.
Creed won the Turner Prize in 2001 for his controversial ‘Work No.227’, an empty room with the lights turning on and off every 5 seconds. It prompted outrage from the tabloid press with one artist even defacing the work by throwing rotten eggs at the walls. It was bought by Tate Britain in 2013 for its permanent collection.
Four of his other pieces, which include a line of nails hammered into a white wall, and 13 ever decreasing cactus plants, will be on show.
The aim of the exhibition is to “bring together artists who use banal objects or deceptively simple actions to turn the everyday into art”.
A whole host of international contemporary artists including Erwin Wurm, Gavin Turk, Karina Smigla-Bobinksi and Willi Dorner will also show their recent work.
Austrian artist Willi Dorner’s Bodies in Urban Spaces project has seen groups of performers in brightly coloured clothes cramming themselves into doorways, alcoves and any gap they can find in public spaces, while Erwin Wurm’s One Minute Sculptures allows visitors to become part of a work of art with instructions on how to pose with everyday objects in spontaneous ways.
Kate Farrell, special exhibitions manager at The Lowry, said:
“There is a longstanding tradition of artists using everyday objects in their work, and this playful approach to contemporary art can be extended to the quintessential everyday object: the human body; an object that we all own and can be used to initiate, create and facilitate creative expression which will be encouraged within this exhibition, ensuring visitors have the opportunity to contribute to works of art in the gallery for others to enjoy.”
