The spoofer speaks

Last month, we flagged up an anonymous artist who had come up with a series of (very good, it has to be said) spoof Best of Manchester Posters.

These were flyposters that on first glance appeared to be identical to our own BOMA ones but on closer inspection turned out to be completely different (see image, below).

We put out a plea via the local press and blogosphere to find out who’d done ‘em. And, luckily for us, the designer in question got in touch. Although that person is unwilling to reveal their true identity, they emailed us to explain why they had gone to the trouble of creating and distributing their posters throughout Manchester and Salford. ‘The posters are designed to encourage, challenge and inspire,’ they said. ‘My dream is to hire all the advertising space in England for a month and fill it with one of two things: pictures of the sky, or nothing at all. This would give us a rest, help us think more creatively.’

This is not the first time this anonymous artist has created such artwork – the Best of Manchester spoofs are the tenth non-commercial posters they have produced in the last two years. Their artwork is the antithesis of the advertising posters they ape: they have no logos, nothing to advertise and nothing to indicate who made them or why. ‘They are my anti-advertising project,’ says the artist. ‘A work in progress. A gift to the city.’

You can see the flyposters for yourself, up close and personal, as part of the Best of Manchester exhibition, which opens at Urbis on Friday. But before that, we’ve got the awards ceremony. And before that, we’ve got to put the finishing touches to the show, and make those final arrangements that mean that everything will go smoothly tomorrow night (you know, little things like building a stage for the live bands, painting walls, applying vinyls, writing text panels, mixing cocktails, running through our speeches, putting our glad rags on…).

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Spot the difference

Something strange is afoot in Manchester. Walking home last Friday night, we spotted what at first glance looked like an official BOMA flyposter – you know, those lovely posters with the Peter Saville/Jeremy Deller quotes we’ve used to publicise the awards.

And then, on second glance, we realised that said poster wasn’t quite… right. Have a look at the image below. The poster on the left is our official one; the one on the right the spoof version.

We’re not the only ones to spot the difference – check out Mancubist and the Manchizzle.

So, which mysterious designer/artist has gone to the trouble of making, producing and pasting up the posters? We’d like to know – not least because we’d like to feature the posters in this year’s BOMA exhibition. If you have any clues as to who Manchester’s answer to Banksy is, email marketing at urbis dot org dot uk. There’s an invite to the awards night in it for anyone who does.

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The shortlist is announced…

It’s out – the 2009 shortlist for the Best of Manchester Awards has just been announced. And the nominees are:

ART

Contents May Vary the artists collective have been nominated. Formed in 2004, this group of MMU Fine Art graduates has, for the past five years, staged a number of innovative group exhibitions and contributed to events as diverse as Artranspennine08, the Northern Art Prize and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Contents May Vary were also shortlisted for HONK, a touring exhibition that featured animation, drawing and performance – but where the ‘gallery’ was in fact the back of a white van.

Rachel Goodyear has been shortlisted for a portfolio of beautiful, yet unsettling, pencil and watercolour drawings. Goodyear has recently exhibited at Cornerhouse in Manchester and as part of Liverpool Biennial at Tate Liverpool in 2008; her work, as you might expect, shows great technical skill. But it is her interest in creating discomforting, ambiguous narratives, often presented as a ‘cluster’ of drawings unique to each gallery or display space, which drew particular praise from the judges.

Owl Project is another art collective, this time comprised of Simon Blackmore, Antony Hall and Steve Symons. Drawing on influences such as woodwork, hobby-style electronics and open source software, Owl Project has produced a range of semi-sculptural, semi-comical musical instruments that have been exhibited across the UK and Europe and premiered at events such as the Sonic Arts Network EXPO, Lovebytes and Futuresonic. Owl Project has been shortlisted for its portable ‘rustic’ instruments, the iLog, the m-Log and the Log1k.

The judges also awarded special commendations to Nick Jordan, who, with fellow artist and collaborator, Jacob Cartwright, was an artist research fellow at Manchester Museum, and Maurice Carlin, an artist who also founded the Islington Mill Art Academy and co-founded the Sounds from the Other City festival.

MUSIC

Jayne Compton has been shortlisted for a diverse portfolio that includes long-running experimental club night, Club Brenda, ‘a genuinely uncompromising underground art happening’, according to Compton that blends live music, art and performance. Compton has also been shortlisted for her Switchflicker Records label (which launched the Ting Tings with That’s Not My Name) and an upcoming Arts Council book, Strange Trees.

Natalie Curtis was shortlisted for a photography portfolio that includes portraits of bands such as Doves, the Paris Riots and Silversun Pickups. Her quiet documentary style has lead to a series of startlingly warm and intimate shots – and was singled out by the judges for its freshness and direct approach.

Max Moran has been shortlisted for a portfolio that includes the video-based music blog, ThisTownSounds.com. Running since 2007, the blog has premiered White Lies’ first ever filmed interview, as well as early performances from the likes of Florence & The Machine. Moran has also been recognised for his sell-out club night, Hot Club, its laid back sister session, Hat Club and, more recently, Moran’s burgeoning record label, Hit Club.

The music judges also awarded special commendations to Paddy Steer, an ‘unsung hero’ according to one of our panel, for his contribution to the Manchester music scene over the past 25 years; and to classical composer Joe Duddell who has curated (and conducts) the Elbow and Hallé Orchestra performances that form the centrepiece of this year’s Manchester International Festival.

FASHION

Paul Griffiths has been nominated for his shop and clothing label, Babycakes. Despite being only two years old, Babycakes is already a smash hit: the label’s store opening in Manchester was met with a 400-strong queue, while its limited edition t-shirt designs regularly sell out within hours of their launch. Babycakes plans to open London and Los Angeles outlets in early 2010.

Holly Russell is an alumnus of Manchester School of Art whose shimmering, stunning graduate collection features hundreds of hand-sewn scarab beetle wings. Russell has also collaborated with a metal worker to incorporate aluminium into her designs and an astronomer to create embellished digital prints. Hugely ambitious but with a realistic approach to the fashion industry, Russell hopes to take up an MA in Fashion Womenswear at the renowned Royal College of Art.

Katie Webb is another Manchester School of Art alumni. Her understated, architectural collection is a stark contrast to Russell’s, featuring neutral colours and luxe fabrics such as leather, cashmere and silk. The judges highlighted Webb’s minimalist designs and technical skills, as well as her environmental awareness and subsequent drive to source fabrics from the UK and Europe.

The fashion judges also awarded a special commendation to Jen Scott-Russell, the milliner who runs the successful Northern Quarter-based shop, H’atelier.

The winners will be announced live at an awards ceremony at Urbis on 23 July. The BOMA exhibition runs 24 July-20 September, also at Urbis.

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On your marks

And we’re off. After lining up a phenomenal judging panel, running a design competition, sorting out an advertising campaign and some top sponsors (including our main supporter, Marketing Manchester), making partnership deals with the likes of MMU, Castlefield Gallery, Cornerhouse and Blueprint Studios – and generally running ourselves ragged for the last four months or so – The Best of Manchester Awards are now open for entries.

The hunt is now on to find the artists, musicians and designers whose boundary-breaking work deserves the Best of Manchester crown.

As you know, our 24 judges include Peter Saville, Wayne Hemingway, the Turner Prize winning artist, Jeremy Deller, Tim Marlow (White Cube, London), Miranda Sawyer, Yvette Livesey (In The City) and Luke Bainbridge (Observer Music Monthly).

But the awards are far more than a pat on the back from these industry greats. And, while we grant you that the £6k that’s up for grabs (£2k per category) is also a sweetener, the awards are about more than the money. They’re even about more than the chance to take part in a major exhibition at Urbis.

What makes these awards special is the chance that the winners get to kick-start their careers with the kind of contacts and professional development that money can’t buy. Think about it: you’re a young band, say, and you’ve got the chance to get your music in front of Universal’s head of A&R (Caroline Elleray) and the woman who runs In The City (Yvette Livesey). Or you’re a fine artist, and all of a sudden your work is being seen by Urbis, Castlefield Gallery, White Cube and a Turner Prize winning artist.

Chances like that just don’t come along very often.

And if that doesn’t persuade you, here’s what happened to some of 2008’s winners and nominees:

Art award winner Naomi Kashiwagi has gone on to stage performances at the Barbican (London) and the Whitworth Art Gallery. She took advantage of an Urbis-sponsored trip to the Frieze and Zoo art fairs to develop her practice, featured in a group show at Cornerhouse at the end of 2008, won the Individual Artist Award at the Art Council’s art08 awards and has secured a solo exhibition in Tokyo this year.

Fashion winner Simon Buckley, who runs the Rags to Bitches boutique, went on to win Best Female Clothes Shop in the Galaxy 2008 Awards and was Highly Commended for Best Womenswear in the Drapers Awards. After a Guardian write-up, Rags to Bitches have since run a series of sold-out fashion events at Urbis.

Fashion nominee Nabil El Nayal is the darling of Vogue and has been tipped by the national press as ‘the next face of British womenswear’. He swiped the Womenswear Award at Graduate Fashion Week this summer and won a place on the Royal College of Arts’ Womenswear MA (alumni include Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen). Thanks to Urbis, Nayal’s couture collection became the star of its own fashion shoot in Flux Magazine, with the resulting photographs displayed at Harvey Nichols Manchester in October 2008.

So, what are you waiting for? The awards open for entries today (16 February) and close at
Midnight on 1 May 2009. Entry is online. The shortlist will be announced on 15 June, and the winners announced live at an awards ceremony at Urbis on 23 July.

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So you think you’re a designer?

Urbis is getting organised ahead of time – by launching a design competition to create the new visual ID for the 2009 Awards.

The competition is open to any design agency based within Greater Manchester, with the ‘prize’ an £8,000 contract and the chance to work with Urbis on the marketing campaign for the 2009 awards and associated exhibition.

‘The Best of Manchester Awards are about much more than an awards night,’ says Vaughan Allen, Urbis’ Chief Executive. ‘They are about supporting the creative industries in Manchester and helping an emerging generation of creative practitioners step up to the next level of their careers. For 2009, we wanted to extend that support to Manchester’s enviable graphic design community, by inviting designers based in the city to work with us. The end result of this competition will be some great design – and the chosen agency will not only get a paid contract in return, but the chance to work on one of the city’s most creative, and creatively fulfilling, projects.’

The competition runs until 17 December, with the chosen agency contracted to work with Urbis before the Christmas break. If you’d like to find out more, get your skates on. Email c dot ashworth at urbis dot org dot uk ASAP.

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And there’s more…

The entries for this year’s Awards were so good that the judges couldn’t quite stick to the ‘only three per category’ limit we’d imposed on them.

And so, in the art and fashion categories, the judges felt that a number of other artists deserved recognition:

Art – special commendations

Special commendations were awarded to Naeem Bawany for club photography, Christopher Gray for commercial design and Liam Hopkins for product design.

Fashion – special commendation

A special commendation was awarded to Daniel Clark for the Manchester-based label and boutique, Junk Shop.

Next stop: the awards – we’ll be announcing the Best of Manchester 2008 winners this Thursday. Keep fingers and toes crossed for your favourites…

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Let the judging commence

That’s it – time’s up. The competition for this year’s Best of Manchester Awards closed at Midnight on Monday. All that art, imagery, music, composition, photography, design and fashion is now winging its way to the judges. They’ll take a broad look at the entries prior to the judging sessions at Urbis next week and we have a feeling they’re going to be busy: the number of entries is up by 65% on last year’s competition (phew).

We’ve had a sneaky peek at what’s been entered and, to be honest, we’re pretty impressed by what we’ve seen. What we’ve ended up with is a very mixed bag, but in the best possible way. In music, for example, there’s everything from contemporary classical composition to hip-hop, jazz, heavy metal – and a fair few entries that defy categorisation. There are plenty of intelligent, clever, innovative and witty entries, and, it has to be said, a couple of downright hilarious ones (we’re assuming that’s intentional…).

And that’s the whole point of the Best of Manchester: it’s all about work that doesn’t fit neatly into boxes (oooh, we almost said ‘work that thinks outside the box’ but that would be a terrible thing to say outside of a corporate team building event). Best of Manchester is a competition that has no rules and regulations. And our judges, who are about to roll their sleeves up and start shortlisting, are only really expecting the unexpected.

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