The Whitworth reopened this weekend following the extension being added to the rear. It was great to go and see what it is like now and it was not disappointing. The work on display by Cornelia Parker I especially enjoyed, I was disappointed not to see Shattered Matter which I was hoping for, but the other works on display did not disappoint at all. They are so conceptually strong and were a demonstration of how to do it. Fantastic stuff.
Also of interest were the curatorial decisions now that they can show more of their collection in a larger space. The portraiture area was disappointing, not in content but in terms of the display and the need to pick up leaflets detailing who had done each particular piece of work. As it was the opening weekend, people were lifting the cards for each wall and not putting them back in the same location, causing confusion to all. And yet, there was some good conversations going on there, especially between the Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud work.
I was much taken with the work of Mary Kelly which was a text piece on feminism that is a greenhouse. A great artist to look at further.
Manchester should be proud of having such a museum on the map. Bravo.
