TSAP @ Platt Hall, 11 July - 31 August 2020

The Terrace Square Artists Project (TSAP) is an expanding network of local residents who live in houses backing onto alleys in the Terrace Square neighbourhoods of Moss Side and Fallowfield.

​As an emergent collective founded on shared concerns for well-being and sustainability - and our neighbours just over the other side of Platt Lane - we were keen to work together to explore how the Hall might become a useful resource for engaging creatively with issues of local importance. ​In the context of the Coronavirus lockdown, it seemed even more important to do something to help people feel connected and provide a little colour and interest in the local neighbourhood. TSAP @ Platt Hall 2020, running till the end of August, is the result.
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Five artists have used the Hall and its collections as inspiration for a series of artworks that engage with relevant local issues, from home, health and belonging, to biodiversity and the impact of climate breakdown.

Every Leaf Matters, Tzanka Tcherneva-Ilieva

"Every leaf of the tree is different, but equally important for the plant. The same as different people in the neighbourhood forming the unique fabric of our society."

​Tzanka Tcherneva-Ilieva takes inspiration from John Ruskin's 'Law of Help', written in 1860, which proposed that every member of society is both an individual and an essential part of the collective. Only when we work together, each doing their small part, can society thrive. Every Leaf Matters invites local residents to 'green the streets' with a front window display of decorated leaves, at the same time considering what small acts of environmental care we can each all make.

​Take part at https://art.tsap.uk/tzanka-tcherneva-ilieva/.

The Hall of Curiosities, Claudia Alonso and Carlos Vicente

Claudia Alonso and Carlos Vicente have animated the windows of the Hall with glimpses of domestic and everyday objects from the collection within. Exploring the diversity of the collection, from world textiles to household spoons, homemade crafts to instruments of measurement, an eclectic selection of scaled-up objects gaze out across the park from the Hall's upper windows, echoing the way small things can sit large in the emotional landscape of daily life at home.

​See more at https://art.tsap.uk/tsap-platt-hall-2020-the-hall-of-curiosities/.

No! Ah! (dismay followed by ideas), Jackie Haynes

Platt Hall is proposed as a climate emergency hub in Jackie Hayne's tale of forced migration. Taking inspiration from a set of wooden 19th century Noah's Ark animals to draw attention to the 21st century global impact of climate breakdown, distant cousins are re-united after a long and dangerous journey to find sanctuary.

​Follow their adventures at https://art.tsap.uk/jackie-haynes/.

Shreds and Patches: Whatever Next?, Katy Jones

Katy Jones explores the way we process change, decay and rebirth, both within Platt Hall and the surrounding park. Tineola bisselliella, the common clothes moth which caused the closure of Platt Hall as The Gallery of Costume in 2017, is re-imagined through recycled scraps of fabric, each of which has personal or family significance. The remains of an Indian Bean Tree, Catalpa bignonioides, that died after vandals stripped its bark, is wrapped in corseted fabric, recalling the protective and shaping structures of undergarments in the costume collection. Both works evoke the vulnerability of the world we live in, but also the creative possibilities that change can bring about.

See more at https://art.tsap.uk/katy-jones/.

Visit www.tsap.uk

The aim of the TSAP network is to be inclusive and improve daily life through neighbourliness and interests in creativity of all kinds. We consider Platt Hall to be an essential part of our neighbourhood.

TSAP is an offshoot of Upping It, a hugely successful grass roots alley greening initiative. ​The communal spaces of our newly ‘greened’ alleys are used to meet, make and show artwork, with an emphasis on recycling of materials. The development of Platt Hall as a community-focused museum and creative making space offers potential for TSAP to be brought indoors and more, so that it can continue to develop all year round. 
 
May 2020 saw the first anniversary of TSAP, which would have no doubt grown exponentially were it not for the pandemic. However, the network has been given the opportunity to broaden in scope thanks to the commission. We look forward to further developing our relationship with Platt Hall with the pace and sense of urgency established through the project.

​We hope that Platt Hall’s potential can be realised soon to make best use of the momentum it has already created, despite the restricted circumstances."