UNESCO celebrations marked by Manchester-Nanjing artist exchange

Waterways in Manchester and Nanjing were the inspiration behind poems, plays and visual art created collaboratively by artists from both cities to celebrate their statuses as UNESCO Cities of Literature and Cities of Lifelong Learning.

Performances and an exhibition at Manchester Met’s Grosvenor East building presented the creations of an international exchange programme between three Manchester artists and their Chinese counterparts.

They marked the culmination of the innovative nine-month Manchester-Nanjing exchange funded by the British Council’s International Collaboration Grants and were put on during Manchester’s award-winning Festival of Libraries.

The event celebrated both cities’ dual UNESCO designations and highlighted how Manchester Met plays a vital role in both through its creative and cultural offering and its commitment to lifelong learning.

University PhD student and Forward Prize-winning poet Charlotte Shevchenko Knight was among the artists to collaborate on the exchange, reading her poetry inspired by Manchester’s riverbanks, while award-winning Nanjing-based poet Han Dong presented his work that was inspired by Yangtze River, which runs through the city.

Eleanor Mulhearn, artist and Manchester Met and Illustration with Animation programme leader, worked with a set-based, three-dimensional illustration process to interpret the history of the River Medlock, resulting in spectacular artistic scenes that converse with Nanjing-based artist Yao Yuan’s Chinese ink paintings depicting seen and imagined landscapes across the river.

The poems were performed by both poets on stage at the celebration event. Mulhearn and Yuan’s visual art were displayed in the atrium of Grosvenor East and will move to the University’s Manchester Poetry Library for public viewing during an extended exhibition period. 

All works are responses to the ecological theme of ‘real contentment’, an idea taken from a poem written by Han Dong earlier in his career. The artists explored the theme during a Manchester visit to Nanjing in March this year, as well as through multiple remote conversations, overcoming language barriers with the help of translation technologies. The event at Manchester Met reunited the artists in person to celebrate their creative outputs.

It took place during the Manchester City of Literature’s Festival of Libraries and was organised by Manchester Met alongside the University of Manchester and Manchester City Council, all key partners of the UNESCO initiatives.

Jill Griffiths, Head of the School of Digital Arts (SODA) and Academic Lead for Lifelong Learning at Manchester Met, said: “It’s a privilege to host the event at Manchester Metropolitan University in celebration of the UNESCO City of Lifelong Learning and City of Literature designations. Working in partnership with Manchester City Council and The University of Manchester to attain these designations is a reflection of the collaborative ethos of the city and Manchester Met. 

“This event, which also took place during the Festival of Libraries, was a vibrant celebration showcasing the breadth and depth of our creative and cultural offering alongside our commitment to making lifelong learning a reality for everybody within Manchester.

“Manchester Met played a vital role in the British Council funded Manchester-Nanjing artist exchange project, and I was delighted to experience the innovative poems, plays and visual art produced by the six artists from Manchester and Nanjing during the event which I hope marks the beginning of a lasting partnership between the two cities.”

Manchester Met was a key part of the city-wide consortium that led the successful bid for UNESCO City of Literature in 2017, joining its worldwide Creative Cities network. This includes the outreach of the University’s Manchester Poetry Library, the first such library in the Northwest of England.

The University was also pivotal to Manchester’s successful UNESCO City of Lifelong Learning bid, and as part of the award is delivering a rich programme of learning opportunities for adult learners in the city.