40 Years of the Future: Where Should We Be Now? at Castlefield Gallery

Artists Jeffrey Knopf, Theo Simpson and Hope Strickland – a sculptor, a photographer and artist-filmmaker, are deeply committed to their disciplines, whilst pushing their boundaries. All actively work around the edges of each of their respective mediums. In both the content of their works and materials used they explore our deep and complex relationships with the past, present and future. They challenge dominant cultural narratives and the idea that history is singular. Their works are subtle and poetic but also expansive, mixing the personal and the political.

The exhibition will present existing pieces alongside commissioned works developed in partnership with the University of Salford Art Collection, some of which will enter the university’s collection for the benefit of future generations. This builds on Castlefield Gallery’s decade of co-commissioning and artist development collaborations with the University of Salford Art Collection. 40 Years of the Future: Where Should We Be Now? will bring together sculptural works 3D-printed from manipulated scans of ancient artefacts, photographic works and materials that relate to the history of the British economy and landscape, alongside film that skillfully and elegantly weaves together archival footage and historic documentation.

As Castlefield Gallery marks 40 years, the exhibition will inform how we might imagine our future, and doing so with the recognition that history isn’t the same for everyone; that amongst the artists we work with and the people that visit us, the past is felt and experienced differently.