‘Interrogate Hulme’  Unit X  is a collaborative module for all first year students at Manchester School of Art. Acting as ‘Urban Archaelogists’, students from Photography, Three Dimensional Design and Film Making worked together in twenty four collaborative groups to interrogate Hulme and it’s rich social history.  Over the past few months they have explored the area through people and places with a story to tell.

Z-arts is the project hub in the heart of the community and our role is to provide the students with inspiring source materials and perspectives to help them decide on their collaborative project. We have programmed a series of talks, resources and films screenings and are hosting their group tutorials and crit sessions.

Hulme Talks

To provide an insight into life and creative activities in Hulme we invited the following speakers to talk about their work…

• Paula Carley: Neighbourhood Engagement Officer for Hulme.
• Mike Mayhew: Hulme Artist. ‘Dogs in Heaven’ Hulme Crescents live art
• Liz O’Neil: CEO Z-arts. ‘Zion 100′ history project
• Helene Rudlin: Hulme Community Garden Centre volunteer coordinator
• Sophie Bee: Unconvention Music Festival

Collaboration: Group Tutorials and Team Building

Fresh into their collaborative groups, the students took part in creative sessions aimed to encourage team spirit and collaborative working practices. These sessions included object handling, creating a narrative sequence and story out of seemingly disparate objects and sculptural prjects , building the tallest tower in teams from paper, paper clips and masking tape.

Exhibition

The artwork created in response to the project was exhibited site specifically around the public spaces in Z-Arts, on stairwells, corridors, nooks and crannies and varies from installation, documentary and interactive pieces. Other work was in the form of art trails around Hulme with maps and directions starting at Z-arts.

Critical Analysis

As part of my Creative Learning MA Module I looked at how the course structure and the role of the tutors helped to foster creativity and aid the collaborative process. You can read the analysis here…