MANCHESTER.- Today Manchester’s cultural institutions - Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Museum, Museum of Science and Industry and the Whitworth - opened eight exhibitions by leading artists in a celebration of shared heritage and historic connections. Marking the 70th anniversary of the creation of India, Pakistan and later Bangladesh, these exhibitions present both new and seminal works, while a wider programme of music, film and performances invite audiences to experience a wealth of South Asian culture throughout the opening weekend (29 September – 1 October 2017).

Dr Nick Merriman, Director of Manchester Museum and spokesperson for the New North and South network said: ‘This weekend Manchester launches an ambitious programme that shines a spotlight on South Asian art and culture through the work of world renowned artists. Thanks to our colleagues across the city and the spirit of collaboration, we are able to offer something for everyone from major exhibitions, artist performances, music and film. As the New North and South network we would like to thank all the artists involved in the Manchester exhibitions for bringing their creative talent to our city.’

New North and South is a network of eleven arts organisations from South Asia and the North of England, supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence and Reimagine India fund.

Raqs Media Collective (Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta) have been described as artists, curators, editors and catalysts of cultural processes. Their extensive exhibition at the Whitworth, and throughout the Whitworth Park, presents many works from the Collective’s practice including The Necessity of Infinity (2017), Coronation Park (2015), The Things That Happen When Falling in Love (2010) and the video works Strikes at Time (2011), Equinox (2012) and Rerun (2013). It will also showcase several new commissions inspired by Manchester’s history and run until 25 February 2018.

South Asian Modernists 1953-1963 at the Whitworth (30 September–15 April 2018) reflects the pioneering efforts of Victor Musgrave and experimental Gallery One in introducing South Asia’s most eminent modernist artists to Europe between 1953-63. Including works from the influential exhibition Seven Indian Painters in Europe (1958) the exhibition draws exclusively from the 1953-63 period, capturing the creative atmosphere of the time. Artists featured include S H Raza, Akbar Padamsee, Tyeb Mehta, Paritosh Sen, Avinash Chandra, Anwar Jalal Shemza, Francis Newton Souza, Ram Kumar and Laxman Pai. Paintings are supported by works on paper, exhibition catalogues and photographs by the renowned photographer Ida Kar. The exhibition is co-curated with Amrita Jhaveri, an expert in Modern and Contemporary Indian art, gallerist, author and collector.

Manchester Art Gallery host solo presentations by five artists: Neha Choksi, Waqas Khan, Mehreen Murtaza, Hetain Patel and Risham Syed.

Neha Choksi’s new multichannel film installation, Faith in Fiction (30 September 2017 – 25 February 2018) featuring herself and her friends, stems from a conviction that to learn to be oneself, one always needs others. Gathered together on the construction site for an expansive and modernising Jain ashram in India, they engage in spatially dynamic, psychologically open-ended, and potentially transformative actions, themselves based on the intersection of the artist’s imagination with inspiration from suggestions of friends not necessarily featured in the film.

Waqas Khan’s minimalist ink drawings (30 September 2017– 25 February 2018) are made from networks of extremely precise dots and lines that measure less than a centimetre each. He creates expansive monochrome compositions that resemble webs and celestial expanses. Working at night, he enters a trance-like state in which he controls his breath to match his mark-making. His work is inspired by Sufi stories and songs, ‘I deal with the script of the Sufi. It’s a side of Islam that is peaceful, happy. For me, Sufism is like meditation, that kind of calm’. For Manchester Art Gallery Khan has created a new body of black and white work which will be shown alongside carefully selected existing work.

Mehreen Murtaza fills Manchester Art Gallery’s ground floor gallery (30 September 2017 – 4 February 2018) with living plants for a new work exploring communication and consciousness. Through in-depth research, Murtaza has developed a unique narrative and sound installation which blurs the boundaries between plant neurobiology, science fiction, philosophy and spirituality to create a space that is neither fiction nor non-fiction.

Multi-disciplinary artist Hetain Patel exhibits two video works, The Jump (2015) and Don’t Look At The Finger (2017), a new commission by Film and Video Umbrella with Manchester Art Gallery and QUAD (30 September 2017 – 4 February 2018). Continuing the artist’s fascination with staging archetypal Hollywood action scenes within domestic settings, each piece employs the artist’s characteristic sense of humour and the scale of a Hollywood production. Don’t Look At The Finger presents a wedding ceremony where bodies speak physically, and the protagonists seek human connection through ritual combat and signed languages. The Jump features Patel’s homemade replica Spider-Man costume and connects the fantasy of action and superhero films with the domestic setting of his British Indian family home in Bolton.

Risham Syed’s exquisite postcard-sized paintings (30 September 2017 – 25 February 2018) show the ever changing urban landscape in Lahore, Pakistan. Instead of preconceived notions of idealised tourist images or traditional landscape scenes, Syed depicts the construction work which continually transforms her home city. Around these paintings Syed has created an installation, drawing on her interest in the parallels in urban segmentation between 19th century Manchester and present day Lahore.

The Museum of Science and Industry welcomes performance artist, Nikhil Chopra from 29 September to 1 October 2017. Chopra will create a one-off, 48hour performance, Blackening: 3157 based around steam locomotive 3157 in the museum’s Power Hall. The engine, built in 1911 at Newtonle-Willows, Merseyside was exported to countries of the former British Empire. Serving on the North Western Railway of India this locomotive was transferred to Pakistan Railways after Partition in 1947 where it ran until 1982. This historic object will form the symbolic centre of Chopra’s performance. Famous for long-duration performance pieces, Chopra’s work will include changing costumed personas; intricate, detailed graphic drawing; and live music by DJ, Masta Justy. Open 24 hours a day visitors will be able to watch Chopra’s piece at any time during the weekend.

Reena Saini Kallat’s solo exhibition (29 September 2017 – 26 February 2018) at Manchester Museum interacts with the museum’s rich and varied natural sciences and human cultures collection. Drawing together multiple strands of objects and specimens to invoke dense histories of human exchange and combat, coercion and conquest, Kallat creates new hybridised species of birds and animals, trees and flowers from national symbols proclaimed by nations as their own, symbolically unifying the otherwise conflicted nations they represent. The Oak tree of the USA is combined with the Palm tree of Cuba, the national bird from Israel the Hoopoe alongside the Palestinian Sunbird. Kallat also exhibits Colour Curtain (2009), a barricade made from rubberstamps with the names of individuals who have been denied visas and Light Leaks (2008-2010), a sculpture modelled on the gates at the Wagah Attari border between India and Pakistan.

Alongside the exhibitions programme multi-arts centre HOME will showcase independent Indian cinema and Manchester-based Band On The Wall will host a series of contemporary South Asian music events.

The New North and South network consists of Manchester Art Gallery, the Whitworth, Manchester Museum, Liverpool Biennial, The Tetley in Leeds and Colombo Art Biennale (Sri Lanka), Dhaka Art Summit (Bangladesh), Karachi and Lahore Biennales (Pakistan), Kochi-Muziris Biennale (India) and the British Council. The three-year project aims to connect with diverse audiences on both continents through a programme of exhibitions and events that showcase the best of contemporary art from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UK.

Rob Lynes, British Council Director UK commented: ‘The British Council is delighted to have helped seed and develop this extraordinary collaboration between South Asia and three of the UK’s vibrant, creative northern cities - a rich thread in the UK’s ongoing relationship with South Asia. In exploring the shared heritage of the UK and the South Asian continent, we’ve been able to showcase the best contemporary art from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to audiences across the north of England. We are grateful for the strong support and partnership of the arts sectors in both countries in being able to do so.’