Rogue Project Space, Manchester | 22-28 January 2025 (by appointment)
We are proud to invite you to a private viewing of Nothing remained unchanged but the clouds, a pilot exhibition at Rogue Project Space, Manchester this January.
Inspired by a project Alan Ward started in the first Covid lockdown (2020) to identify the location of a WWI German photographic negative, Nothing remained unchanged but the clouds tells the story of community, rebuilding and memory in the small French town of Grandpré in the rural Ardennes.
Using the photographic negative and subsequent collecting of German postcards written home from Grandpré, Alan established an online repository of memory and artefact, aiming to reflect the importance of the town’s local and everyday history. Growing his connections and relationships with people now living in Grandpré, Alan has gone on to undertake a series of residencies supported by the municipal council. He has created pop-up studios, scripted an alternative artist walk of the town with academics from the UK and Germany, and resident’s shared their special places, familial memories, postcard collections and ephemera.
During 2023 Alan was granted Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice funding to further explore both professional and creative partnerships with a focus on this project. He has been working with artist Jeffrey Knopf and curator Mark Devereux to examine the liminal spaces of those postcards, the cross fertilisation of art, heritage and artefact, and consider how these inform an understanding of Grandpré’s past, present and future.
This pilot exhibition represents the first presentation of this brand-new body of work we are aiming to show in future resolved exhibitions across the UK. We would like to invite you to a private viewing of this exhibition, where we will be available to share further details and stories of the project. Collectively we are keen to hear your professional responses, critique and advice on the work and next steps for this fascinating project.
Rogue Project Space
Rogue Artists Studios
4 Barrass St
Openshaw
Manchester M11 1WP
Please email or call me at: alan@alanjward.co.uk | 07980305340
to arrange a time to visit the exhibition
