Work by top UK artists come to Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum

or its upcoming autumn exhibition, Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum will bring together 17 works from the Museum’s historic collection of satirical and political prints along with artworks by contemporary British artists Mark Titchner and Gillian Wearing, borrowed from the Arts Council Collection. What Do We Want? explores ordinary people’s voices against a world of corporate and political messages.  It runs from 22 September until 24 November 2018.

Wearing and Titchner are known for their works which blur the lines between public identities, commercial consumption, and private lives. They provide powerful commentary on everyday perceptions of who we think we are and what we want, explored through forms of expression associated with personal and political language.

What Do We Want? has been funded by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund and features works on loan from the Arts Council Collection. Created by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund, the Weston Loan Programme is the first ever UK-wide funding scheme to enable smaller and local authority museums to borrow works of art and artefacts from the national collections.

The exhibition will be complemented by new, street-level works of art, created by Mark Titchner in collaboration with Worcester residents, including representatives from Worcester’s homeless community. The new artworks are inspired by Titchner’s 2006 work The Invisible Republic (on loan as part of the exhibition). The new work will bring the polyphonous voices of local people to the fore, updating The Invisible Republic for a time when brands and news media assimilate and manipulate individual public expression.

The street-level campaign will transform the exhibition into an innovative city-wide project, widening the reach of the exhibition and the impact of its themes and their relevance to people's day-to-day lives. Following the exhibition, the new artwork will join Worcester’s collection where it will be able to connect diverse new audiences with the museum and its collections.

Deborah Fox, Senior Curator, Museums Worcestershire said: “This project has enabled us to explore those hidden voices often missed in this fast-moving corporate world. We are very grateful to the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund for enabling us to bring key artworks from the internationally renowned Arts Council Collection to Worcestershire.”

Philippa Charles, Director of the Garfield Weston Foundation added: “We have been blown away by the ambition and creativity of museums and galleries across the UK and Worcester’s idea really stood out. Some of the most talented curators in the UK have imagined the art, objects and exhibitions which promise to transform the experiences of their audiences. We are delighted that the local community in Worcester will get to see these powerful and thought provoking works.”

What Do We Want? is free and open Monday – Saturday 10.30am – 4.30pm. For more information contact the Art Gallery and Museum on 01905 25371 OR visit www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk or follow @worcestermuseum