– Leveller // an exhibition by Robert Parkinson
LEVELLER
An exhibition by Robert Parkinson
Port Street Beer House
Opening Thursday 22nd September 2016 / 6pm
+ Jennifer Reid (live)
+ Squawk Leveller Black IPA launch
Pubs have been a crucial foundation of social space within Britain for hundreds of years. The function of a ‘public house’ has evolved over time and has nurtured many social and political movements throughout our cultural history. From working class people using the space as escapism of the sometimes gruelling manual labour, to feminists and CND movements hosting meetings and events in the then declining pub spaces of the 1980s. It also sparked the musical genre – Pub Rock (pre-cursor to Punk); bands playing stripped back rock and roll music as a reaction to the progressive/hippy scene as actively ‘anti-stadium’ performers.
Mass Observation saw how crucial pub spaces were for a social study and produced ‘The Pub and the People: A Worktown Observation’ in 1947. For every 1000 people in Greater Manchester there is a pub.
The foundation of most pub conversation is light hearted and humorous. Pub games lend themselves well to these playful surroundings and not many have been more popular than darts. Robert aims to explore the level to which darts has come, from the local leagues to filling 10,000 seats at the world championships today.
Art and political movements have often hosted events and meetings within pubs as the environment is perfect to spark discussion and gather collaborative ideas. Leveller will show examples of these within Manchester past and present intending to spark conversations a similar vein.
If you’ve been in a pub, chances are you’ve been in a chip shop. Is that a leap? Chip shops, like pubs, are considered very British and are often referenced in Mass Observations studies. For Leveller Robert has produced a screen-printed poster inspired by a chip shop printed onto chip shop paper. Art you could eat your dinner (chips) off.
Folk singer Jennifer Reid will be performing local traditional pub songs in local dialect at the opening of Leveller. Many of which are featured and have inspired the framed works that will be displayed within Port Street. The opening night will see the launch of a new dark IPA titled Leveller, brewed especially for this exhibition by Squawk Brewery with Robert Parkinson.
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Leveller is an exhibition of all new work by Robert Parkinson, Manchester-based artist and photographer. Robert has previously shown work in London, New York, Amsterdam, Jerusalem, Berlin, and Paris. Robert is also one-half of self-publishing/
Facebook event page HERE.
