Artichoke
The Gallery Season 1
Straight White Male
2021
UK-wide
Curator
An Artichoke Project conceived in collaboration with artist and Creative Director Martin Firrell.
The Gallery is supported by founding partners Clear Channel and JCDecaux, together with Alight Media, Mass Media, KBH Group and Redbus Media.
The Gallery is also supported Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Colwinston Charitable Trust, Esmé Mitchell Trust, Idlewild Trust and The Ashley Family 13 Foundation.
Season 1: July-August 2022
Straight White Male
Participating artists: Nadina Ali, Husk Bennett, Martin Firrell, Nia De indias, Nichola Irvine, Anna Martynenko, Shiro Masuyama, Anya Naumovic, Georgia Plumb, Stevexoh
Selection Panel: Greg Bunbury, Martin Firrell, Zafeerah Heesambee, Helen Marriage, Bren O’Callaghan, Bakul Patki
The Gallery | official website
Lead image: ‘Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Bleeding’, by Nichola Irvine
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (July 2022)
Produced by Artichoke in collaboration with artist Martin Firrell and supported by the Out-of-Home* industry, The Gallery is a new and ambitious cultural institution without walls, bringing thought-provoking visual art to everyone across the United Kingdom, where they live and work.
Artists of all ages are invited to apply via open call in response to a theme, encouraging public discussion around a provocation exploring identity, society and culture.
Selected artworks are reproduced at scale and displayed at thousands of sites throughout the four nations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
*The term Out-of-Home refers to any visual advertising media found outside of the home, including on-street billboards, digital screens, bus-shelters, train stations and shopping malls.
Season 1: Straight White Male
July-August 2022
10 artists from across the world created works in response to the words ‘Straight White Male’. This was not the criteria for entry, but rather a jumping-off point for exploring division, anger, pride, desire, blame, alternative readings and the need for more nuanced, even difficult conversations.
About The Gallery’s Creative Director, Martin Firrell
Martin Firrell is a public artist whose works challenge unjust power systems of all kinds, including patriarchal power, the oppression of women and non-heterosexuals, and the heteronormative status quo.
He uses language to engage directly with the public, provoking dialogue about more equitable social organisation. His work has been summarised as 'art as debate'.
About Artichoke
Artichoke works with artists to create extraordinary and ambitious public art in cities, the countryside and on coastlines around the UK.
Over the last 16 years Artichoke has produced more than 25 ground-breaking productions ranging from PROCESSIONS, a living portrait of women in the 21st Century celebrated across the UK; One & Other, Antony Gormley's living portrait of the UK on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square to the Lumiere light festivals produced in Durham, Derry-Londonderry and London.