Through No. 3 by Liz West

Castlefield Gallery is excited to be working in partnership with Allied London in commissioning artist Liz West to create a brand new installation for Spinningfields, Manchester.

Through No. 3 will be a six-metre long triangular corridor of light and colour installed on Crown Square in Spinningfields from the 25 November 2015 to Wednesday 6 January 2016.

Hot from her major commission An Additive Mix at National Media Museum, Bradford and a Bursary Award from the Royal British Society of Sculptors, Through No.3 continues West’s exploration of colour and light as primary material for artwork. The walk-through structure will encourage visitors to literally look at their surroundings in a different light.

Working across a variety of mediums, West creates vivid environments with the aim of provoking a heightened sensory awareness in the viewer. She is interested in exploring how sensory phenomena can evoke psychological and physical responses that tap into our own deeply entrenched relationships to colour. Her intuitive and often playful approach to making sculpture and art installations leads to visually rich works that viewers cannot fail but to be drawn into. Underpinning West’s practice is Josef Albers’ colour theories and his Bauhaus teachings, which she references alongside an informed understanding of Newtonian optics and Goethe’s theory of visual perception.

After graduating The Glasgow School of Art in 2007, West now lives and works in Manchester. She was recently commissioned by the Science Museum London to create a new installation for the National Media Museum, Bradford; she exhibited at The Crypt in Leeds Town Hall for Light Night Leeds (9 Oct 2015), and has recently been announced as one of 10 winners of the Royal British Society of Sculptors Bursary Awards 2015.

The commissioning of Through No.3 has been managed by Castlefield Gallery. “It has been a pleasure to work with Allied London properties, and Chief Executive Michael Ingall throughout the commissioning and development of this new artwork for Spinningfields. Michael understands the importance of artists and creative practitioners to place making, and so it is fantastic to have had Allied London’s commitment to the delivery of this exciting new artwork by artist Liz West for Spinningfields.” Kwong Lee, director, Castlefield Gallery.

Press enquiries: For further information, to request images or to arrange interviews, please contact: Jennifer Dean, Communications and Audience Development Coordinator on jennifer@castlefieldgallery.co.uk or call +44 (0)161 832 8034 - See more at: http://www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/news/through-no-3-by-liz-west/#sthash.QYuT9pSy.dpuf

Liz West Awarded Major Commission at National Media Museum

Light Fantastic season celebrates the UNESCO International Year of Light.    

Liz West's new light installation will take centre stage in a season of free events at the National Media Museum, celebrating the UNESCO International Year of Light.

Manchester-based artist Liz West has been commissioned by the Museum to create a brand new £30,000 installation inspired by the theme. It comprises a purpose-built 10m x 5m room containing approximately 300 coloured fluorescent tubes combined with ‘infinity’ mirrors. Titled An Additive Mix, it takes the principle that white light is composed of different colours of the spectrum (additive colours) and places people in the centre of the phenomenon; saturating them in individual hues that collectively create an intense white glow in a seemingly endless space.

An Additive Mix, which is free to enter and designed to be enjoyed by all ages, builds on themes developed in West’s previous works - most recently the acclaimed Your Colour Perception, which was described as ‘walking through a rainbow’. The new work, West’s largest commission to date, turns this occurrence in natural science on its head; reassembling the diffracted colours of the rainbow and projecting them to ‘infinity’ as visitors explore.

Liz West said:    

“This is a body of work that I have dreamed of being able to make for a number of years. To be given the opportunity as part of the Museum’s celebration of light is thrilling and very fitting.”    

“Artworks I remember seeing as a child are the ones in which I was completely immersed, and that’s what I hope An Additive Mix will achieve: taking people out of the ordinary into the extraordinary, and staying in their memories for a long time."  

Light Fantastic: Adventures in the Science of Light (18 July – 1 November), forms part of the National Media Museum’s Festival of Light. Throughout 2015 the festival, inspired by the UNESCO Year of Light, will be home to exhibits, family activities, a series of contemporary science events, a Lates (late-night opening) and more.

Entrance and activities are free.

Contact: Phil Oates, Press Officer, phil.oates@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk, 01274 203317.