Live Events Programme

Economics the Blockbuster – It’s not Business as Usual

As part of our past exhibition Economics the Blockbuster, which ran from 30 June to 22 October 2023, the Whitworth ran a live programme of free events that took place at the gallery through the duration of the exhibition. These events were an opportunity to find out more and explore the projects, artworks, and artists in the exhibition.

PAST EVENTS:
Thursday 19 October, 6-8pm, Ways of Doing Business: Quantitative Melencolia at the Whitworth FREE, please book

Exhibition Tour and Panel Discussion

In partnership with Alliance Manchester Business School

Join us for an exhibition tour and panel discussion on art and business with Dr. Vikas Shah MBE, Pierre Guillet de Monthoux and Ismail Ertürk. As part of an exciting evening exploring the intersection between the worlds of art and business at the Whitworth.

To find out more and to book your FREE place please click on the link below.

Book your FREE ticket on Eventbrite
Wednesday 18 October, 7pm - 8.30pm, We are not a Burden, with Alternative School of Economics, free, online event.

Join The Alternative School of Economics (Ruth Beale & Amy Feneck) with leading feminist speakers Jo Littler and Sophie Lewis for a conversation about centring care in the economy.

Taking inspiration from the phrase ‘We are not a burden to each other’, a banner in The Alternative School of Economics’ installation The Neoliberal Imagination, developed from a conversation with a striking paramedic about the pressures of work and care, the speakers will discuss the problems with current care structures and systems within capitalism, the consequences of a neoliberal economy, and what our economy and society might be like if care was at the centre.

Eventbrite booking now SOLD OUT
Thursday 12 October, 6-8pm, Economics of Life with Decolonising Economics, FREE, please book

Join us at the gallery for this FREE event exploring the Economics of Life across generations and histories of displacement. Together we’ll explore ways in which communities have self-organised to survive the legacies of colonialism and racial capitalism, and the practices of care and community that have sustained them.

Book your FREE ticket on Eventbrite
5 October, 12pm - 7pm Quantitative Melencolia LIVE

Join printmaker Alan Birch inside the #EconomicstheBlockbuster exhibition space as he creates editions from Goldin+Senneby's Quantitative Melencolia plate. This second run of impressions, which visitors can watch being created, will be signed and numbered by the artists and stamped by the Whitworth. The prints are available for sale from the Whitworth Shop, activating the financial operation of the gallery collection.
Saturday 9 September, 12 – 2pm, FREE Company Drinks Foraging Workshop Whitworth Park & Community Garden

Join Company Drinks for a foraging session in Whitworth Park Community Garden. Learn how to make fresh delicious herbal teas and if time allows, have a go at making your own apple juice with apples foraged from the garden. Company Drinks is a social enterprise that brings people back together through gardening and drink-making.
11 - 13 September, 12pm - 2pm, Tablecloth as Toolkit lunch

Tablecloth as Toolkit is an artwork that invites people to explore ideas of land, food systems and social justice through communal meals and discussions. These lunches are by invite only. If you have a related practice and are interested in joining please email hannah.vollam@manchester.ac.uk
14 September 12pm - 7pm Quantitative Melencolia LIVE

Join printmaker Alan Birch inside the #EconomicstheBlockbuster exhibition space as he creates editions from Goldin+Senneby's Quantitative Melencolia plate. This second run of impressions, which visitors can watch being created, will be signed and numbered by the artists and stamped by the Whitworth. The prints are available for sale from the Whitworth Shop, activating the financial operation of the gallery collection.
19, 26, 28 & 30 September, 2 – 4pm, Redrawing Sessions with Luke Adamson

Establishing a much-needed creative dialogue between art, economy, and community action. The drawing sessions are designed to empower local creatives and change-makers with the thinking and practical tools to recognise what their local economies are made up of, and to redraw them along lines that better serve their community’s needs.

Tuesday 19 September 1 – 3pm
Tuesday 26 September 2 – 4pm
Thursday 28 September 12.30 – 2.30pm
Saturday 30 September 3 – 5pm

Free entry, open to all
Location: Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space
20 September, 2pm - 4pm, Redrawing Art & Archive Futures, Gallery 7, FREE, open to all

Join us for a redrawing session with Kuba Szreder (Centre for Plausible Economies) & Art & Archive Futures (Manchester Metropolitan University). Together we will collectively imagine and draw alternative practices of collecting and archiving. Could we imagine collecting and archival practices centred on commoning and interdependence rather than competition and exclusion?

Book your space: https://bit.ly/3EFqHnB
21 September 6.30pm - 8.30pm, Interdependent Art Worlds, with Kathrin Böhm and Kuba Szreder

Join a conversation around IDT (Interdependent Art Worlds), a manifesto developed to outline a set of principles that guide more equitable art world practices. The seven principles offer an ethical and practical compass for navigating Governance, Artworld(s), Aesthetics, Economy, Ecologies, Community and Politics. Böhm and Szreder will lead a discussion and a Redrawing Session on how to use these principles. The event is part of Economics the Blockbuster, an exhibition that explores how artists are shaping the economy.

Book your space: https://bit.ly/3Ltpmnr
1, 12, 17, 26, 30 August | Redrawing the Economy workshop

Centre for Plausible Economies
1, 12, 17, 26, 30 August
10.30am-12.30pm & 1.30pm-3.30pm
Free entry, open to all
Location: Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space

Establishing a much-needed creative dialogue between art, economy, and community action. The drawing sessions are designed to empower local creatives and change-makers with the thinking and practical tools to recognise what their local economies are made up of, and to redraw them along lines that better serve their community’s needs.
PLAYTIME | Family events throughout August

This summer PLAYTIME is going to market. Have a wander and find things to do both indoors and out. With our PLAY Market’ area, sketching stations, Whitworth Minecraft and a sensory play area for babies, there’s something for all the family.

PLAY Market | Drop-in Tuesdays 10.30am–1pm, Wednesdays 1-4pm, Thursdays 1-4pm throughout August, FREE

Click the link for full details
Thursday 3, 10, 17, 24 August | PLAY Tŷ Pawb

Part of PLAYTIME programme
1pm – 4pm
Free entry, open to all Location: Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space
A free open access playworker-supported session in our Economics the Blockbuster exhibition
Facilitated by playworkers from Wrexham
Friday 30 June | Exhibition opening

Exhibition opening with Katherine Gibson
6pm-8pm
Free entry, open to all
Location: the Whitworth

Join us for the opening of Economics the Blockbuster a new major exhibition that presents a selection of extraordinary art projects that operate as real-world economic systems. Feminist economist Katherine Gibson will introduce the exhibition with a special opening speech.
Saturday 1 July | Company Drinks

Company Drinks walk & tour
2pm-3pm
Free entry, open to all
Location: Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space

Join Company Drinks for a walk and tour through the exhibition space into the Whitworth community garden to sample some of the new cordial made in collaboration with GROW, the Whitworth's community gardening group.
Saturday 1 July | Redrawing the Economy

Redrawing the Economy workshop with the Centre for Plausible Economies
11am-1pm
Free entry, open to all
Location: Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space

The Centre for Plausible Economies Redrawing the Economy workshops establish a much-needed creative dialogue between art, economy and community action. This session is designed to empower local creatives and change-makers with the thinking and practical tools to recognise what their local economies are made up of, and to redraw them along lines that better serve their community’s needs.
Wednesday 5 July | Guardian Live

Rethinking Economics, It’s not Business as Usual, Guardian Live
6pm-7pm
Location: The Grand Hall / online

In-person ticket: Book your seat at the Whitworth
Watch live online: Book your virtual audience ticket

Join our panel of experts, chaired by the Guardian's Zoe Williams, with Faiza Shaheen, Stewart Lansley, and Andrew Simms.
Thursday 6 July | The Imagination is Political

The Imagination is Political with The Alternative School of Economics
5pm-7pm
Free entry, open to all
Location: Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space

Join a collective listening workshop led by Ruth Beale and Amy Feneck (The Alternative School of Economics) using their Audio Guide for the Imagination, part of their installation for Economics the Blockbuster. Each guide asks you to use your imagination to explore ideas attached to neoliberalism, such as individualism, monetisation, choice and accumulation. The workshop will give space for listening, sharing and discussion, testing the process of imagining as a way to understand our positions and feelings in relation to neoliberalism, and conjure alternative possibilities.
Saturday 8 July | Quantitative Melencolia

Quantitative Melencolia Live
11am-4pm
Free entry, open to all
Location: Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space

Watch printmaker Alan Birch inside the Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space whilst he creates new editions from Goldin+Senneby's 'Quantitative Melencolia' plate. This second run of impressions created in-situ will be signed and numbered by the artists, stamped by the Whitworth and open for visitors to watch the process.

The print-run will be made available for sale from the Whitworth Shop during the exhibition, activating the financial operation of the gallery collection.
Thursday 13 July | Studio Nights

Printmaking, Studio Nights
6pm-8pm
Free entry – RSVP essential – see email details below
Location: Garden Studio

Join printmaker Alan Birch as he introduces participants to the world of dry point engraving. The work of Albrecht Dürer and others in Economics the Blockbuster will be used as a starting point to create dry point etchings on metallic cards. Participants will use a portable press using water-based inks and the world of collage will be explored to change the meaning and context of your produced work.

This event is a practical art workshop for educators. Explore arts practice, connect with exhibitions, discover new perspectives, and meet other educators. To book your place, email steven.roper@manchester.ac.uk
Friday 14 July | RECOVERIST CULTURE FIX

Exhibition tour & talk organised by Portraits of Recovery
1pm-2pm

Private exhibition tour of Economics the Blockbuster: It’s not Business as Usual

Book your ticket via Eventbrite

Location: Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space
Sunday 16 July | Artfulness of the Market

Artfulness of the Market
11.30am-3pm
Free entry, open to all
Location: Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space

Join market traders from Tŷ Pawb as they introduce their practice and explore The Artfulness of The Market together with Creative Director, Jo Marsh. Each will share details of running their company, how they have adapted and created new income streams, as well as discussing the ethos and meaning behind being a trader at Tŷ Pawb. Traders will also bring some of their wares to explore details of the process of creation.
Thursday 27 July | Quantitative Melencolia Live

Quantitative Melencolia Live
10.30am-12.30pm & 1.30pm-3.30pm
Free entry, open to all
Location: Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space

Join printmaker Alan Birch inside the Economics the Blockbuster exhibition space as he creates new editions from Goldin+Senneby's 'Quantitative Melencolia' plate. This second run of impressions will be signed & numbered by the artists, stamped by the Whitworth and open for visitors to watch the process. The print run will be available for sale from the Whitworth Shop during the exhibition.
About the Live Events Programme

These events are part of a live programme with artists and participants in Economics the Blockbuster, an exhibition that presents a selection of extraordinary art projects that operate as real-world economic systems. Together they propose new ways of 'doing business', driven by the needs and concerns of the communities in which they are created.

Economics the Blockbuster is a project by the Whitworth, The University of Manchester, and presented as part of Manchester International Festival.

#EconomicstheBlockbuster
#ItsnotBusinessasUsual
#MIF23