About this Event
Symposium
Open House: Unlocking the Whitworth's wallpaper collection
Thursday 2 February 2023, 12.00-4.30pm
The Whitworth, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6ER
Open House is a collections research project that unlocks the social potential of the Whitworth’s extensive collection of twentieth-century wallpapers, revealing untold stories about home life.
Through 2022 Open House has gradually unfolded through an exhibition; a volunteer project to photograph 5000 of the Whitworth's everyday wallpapers; an extensive programme of public events; and a call out gathering your photos and stories about life lived against the backdrop of wallpaper, which have been displayed in the exhibition and will be collated in a book.
This symposium is a chance to explore wallpaper designs from the 1950s to the 1990s and their social contexts, and reflect on a year of Open House activity so far, with contributions by researchers, curators and artists.
Speakers:
Zoe Hendon, Head of Collections at the Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture (MoDA), Middlesex University
Dominique Heyse-Moore, Senior Curator Contemporary British Art , Tate Britain
Rose Sinclair, Lecturer in Design Education, Goldsmiths, University of London
Joanne Turney, Professor of Fashion and Textiles, University of Southampton
Michael McMillan, Associate Lecturer for Cultural and Historical Studies at London College of Fashion, UAL
Lunch is provided.
The Open House exhibition is on display at the Whitworth until 26 February 2023.
Find out more about the exhibition and project here.
Header image: Neil Kenlock, Untitled (Little boy by telephone), photograph from the Brixton series, 1972-1974. Image courtesy of the artist. © 2022 Neil Kenlock
Above: Photographs of life lived in front of wallpaper contributed by members of the public to the Open House project, on display in the exhibition. (Photo by Michael Pollard)
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Whitworth, Oxford Road, Manchester, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00