Virtual Migrants

art, digital media, performance exploring race, migration, environment, global justice

By

Poetic, filmic, visual & rhythmic responses to BREATHE!

Excited to invite you to our event on Friday 15th May online on Zoom or FaceBook Live at 7:30pm
A Numbi-Virtual Migrants-XR Tower Hamlets collab
feat. a stellar lineup of local/global artist + film premiere of BREATHE!

Join live audience on Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/511372970

Raffle ticket & donation link: https://tinyurl.com/y7p8yn6q

Proceeds from the event will benefit NUMBI Arts.

BREATHE!
Development – Exclusion – Community – Environment – Resistance
a documentary of a protest/performance project in a public community garden
by Virtual Migrants and Numbi with XR Tower Hamlets, the Women’s Environmental Network and local people

By

90 Degree Citizen – keynote exhibition for Platforma 2013

an exhibition by Virtual Migrants + performance / discussion events
on show at the Manchester Museum 10th October – 17th November 2013
90DC-A5flyer-back
migrant art – alternative connections – cultural boundaries
A rare exhibition of work by a new wave of visual artists whose experiences include life as refugees in the UK engaging with objects from The Manchester Museum

Opening event:
In Conversation with artists and curators plus live music from Emmanuela Yogolelo
Thursday 10th October, 6.00 – 8.30pm
FREE to attend, but please register at www.90degreecitizen.eventbrite.co.uk

Produced in partnership with Street Level Photoworks (Glasgow), Manchester Museum and GM Immigration Aid Unit.  Part of Platforma 2013 national festival of arts and refugees.

Special performances / discussions on 10th and 30th October, starting at 6pm.

90 Degree Citizen presents artworks that resonate with experiences of migration and refuge. They represent a sample of a new wave of expression in the UK outside of the limitations of western art schools and markets, often with a greater interest in symbolism, narrative and cultural hybridity.

Exhibiting artists include [Read more…]

By

CONTINENT CHOP CHOP: climate justice film project on Indiegogo

Nnimmo Bassey with international activist Vandana Shiva

Nnimmo Bassey with international activist Vandana Shiva

We’ve launched a crowdfunder so that we can work with poet, author, activist Nnimmo Bassey. To support us click on the CCC logo on the right to go to Indiegogo.
For more information about the project click on the Continent Chop Chop menu.

What is CONTINENT CHOP CHOP?

A new transmedia performance by Virtual Migrants, touring from November 2015.  It focuses on climate destruction and how it is linked to global austerity policies and refugees.  It currently includes only a short voice-over from Nnimmo Bassey as a part of the story.  We’ve launched a crowdfunder for this climate justice film project on Indiegogo. The new film created in collaboration with Nnimmo Bassey will become a centre-piece of the performance.

By

RE-PRESENTING REFUGEES: discussion, performance, exhibition

90 Degree Citizen exhibition project:
Special Event on Weds 30th October, 6pm – 9pm, at Manchester Museum

>> ‘RE-PRESENTING REFUGEES’ panel discussion <<
>> ‘PASSENGER 12’ multimedia performance <<
>> ‘COMMITTED TO REPRESENT’ exhibition premiere – open to view from 5pm <<

audience+maz_IMG_2284_cropWide_v2_se

A range of key speakers and artists explore critical issues around art, displacement and refugees.  As a dynamic movement, alternative practices and perspectives, cultural resistance or affirmation, political and historical contexts.  Open to the public on the eve of the Platforma national conference on arts and refugees.  A Virtual Migrants event www.virtualmigrants.net .

Discussion begins 7.20pm – panel includes:

Flora Alexander – Iranian visual artist based in Glasgow
Yusra Warsama – poet, playwright and actor from Somalia
Tom Green – director of Platforma national network of arts and refugees
Humberto Velez – international visual, media and performance artist
Isobel Bowler – legal case worker at GM Immigration Aid Unit
Iseult Timmermans – artist and creative producer with refugee groups at Street Level Photoworks
Discussion chaired by Kooj Chuhan – artist and cultural producer; founder of Virtual Migrants and director of 90 Degree Citizen

Multimedia experimental performance: part 1 begins 7pm with part 2 after the discussion – includes artists:

Sai Murray (writer, poet, spoken word)
Maya Chowdhry (performer, writer, multimedia and interactive artist)
Aidan Jolly (composer-songwriter and musician)
Tracey Zengeni (vocalist)
Mazaher (VJ projections)
Elmi Ali (writer, poet, spoken word)
Pat Mackela (drums and percussion)

Committed To Represent – exhibition premiere with talks about the work at 6pm including special guest Mavis Makhaza from Gtr Manchester Immigration Aid Unit and WAST (Women Asylum Seekers Together):

Portable panels of photography and text, portraying the people behind the labels – our unsung heroes the legal immigration caseworkers and those who have needed their support. Created by Kooj Chuhan, Ursula Sharma and Mazaher, as a partnership project between GM Immigration Aid and Virtual Migrants.  This is a pop-up exhibition only on show until 1st November in the Kanaris Foyer at the museum.

This event is a part of the 90 Degree Citizen exhibition, on show from 10th October – 17th November at Manchester Museum, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL

FREE to attend, but please register at www.re-presentingrefugees.eventbrite.co.uk

The café will be open during this event for food and drinks.  Light refreshments provided.  All timings are approximate.

logo Banner funders

By

90 Degree Citizen – installing the exhibition

4bAmang Mardokhy arrives at Manchester Museum to install his paintings for 90 Degree Citizen – A rare exhibition of work by a new wave of visual artists whose experiences include life as refugees in the UK, and engaging with objects from The Manchester Museum.

“I have come from Kurdistan, north part of Iraq. Since the early start of my art experience, I also have learned how to live and express the sufferings of [Read more…]

By

UPDATE: Special Guests and online video – 90 Degree Citizen exhibition: Opens 10th Oct 6pm at Manchester Museum

WAST_logoSPECIAL GUESTS ANNOUNCED: Mavis Makhaza from GM Immigration Aid Unit and WAST (Women Asylum Speakers Together), plus Tony Openshaw from ASHA (Asylum Support Housing Advice) will speak about their work in relation to the exhibition

stephen welsh - youtubeNEW VIDEO INTERVIEW NOW ONLINE: Stephen Welsh, the Curator of Living Cultures at Manchester Museum, on museum collections and 90 Degree Citizen in the context of Victorian colonialism and ethnography

Thursday 10th October, 6pm, Manchester Museum, here are full details of the Opening Event from our website. Free, but register here

By

Committed To Represent – exhibition celebrating immigration caseworkers, refugees

Committed To Represent - exhibition celebrating immigration caseworkers, refugees

How does the legal work of the GMIAU (Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit) help refugees to rebuild their lives?  What motivates the caseworkers? How do refugees respond to the challenges that the asylum system throws at them? This exhibition is a celebration of the work that caseworkers do and a testament to the courage of refugees and people seeking asylum.

An exhibition of photography and texts as a series of 12 portable panels by the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, in partnership with Virtual Migrants.  This exhibition is available for borrowing or hire (if you have available funds), and a speaker can be provided if desired.  The panels can be set up to accompany any relevant event, activity, cultural or artistic programme involving an audience.  Please contact us or contact GMIAU directly via www.gmiau.org .

An exhibition celebrating immigration caseworkers, refugees and people seeking asylum

A gallery showing all of the panels is available to view right now at www.virtualmigrants.net/committedtorepresent/gallery , and photographs of the panels exhibited in various venues can be seen at www.virtualmigrants.net/committedtorepresent/exhibitionphotos.  These will give a good idea of what the exhibition is and how it can be presented.

Design and direction by Kooj Chuhan / Metaceptive Media. Research and text by Ursula Sharma.  Photography by Mazaher.  Committed To Represent – exhibition celebrating immigration caseworkers, refugees and people seeking asylum in 12 portable panels.  Here is a quick overview of some places it has been shown at, followed by a statement from GMIAU.

Gallery

Photos of the launch at Z-Arts, June 2013 (CLICK on a photo to view them in full scale):

This was also shown as a pop-up exhibition, produced with Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, on Weds 30th October to Friday 1st November.  Part of 90 degree citizen a rare exhibition of work by a new wave of visual artists whose experiences include life as refugees in the UK engaging with objects from The Manchester Museum.  A few photos of the exhibition at the Manchester Museum (CLICK on a photo to view them in full scale):

On Wednesday 30th October at 5.00pm there was a talk + preview of the “Committed To Represent” pop-up exhibition.  A video of this including the powerful speeches by Isobel and Mavis will be put up online soon.

The Committed To Represent exhibition was also shown at the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit’s Annual General Meeting on Saturday 25th January 2014 (CLICK on a photo to view them in full scale):

Statement from GMIAU at their 2014 AGM:

We are in very turbulent times. During the past 12 months legal aid has been removed for most immigration cases and the government is ‘consulting’ on the next set of cuts which will include further restrictions on access to the law, including judicial review and appeals, and the insidious ‘residency test’. The Immigration Bill has been introduced and if it get passed as it is it will include duties on landlords and banks to check the immigration status of potential tenants and customers. Immigration will once again be top of the political agenda in the run up to general election in 2015 and none of the public debate about immigration is positive. This makes it even more difficult for the people that GMIAU is here to support and represent – not just in a legal sense but also to stand up against the injustice and discrimination that is the reality of many peoples day to day lives.

We need our supporters more than ever. We need to work together to steer the organisation through these challenging times, to make sure not only that we survive but that we’re stronger and louder than before in our defence of access to justice and human rights. Please come and join us on the 25th need to be doing over the next year and beyond to make sure we stay at the forefront of creating a better and more positive contribution to the lives of people in the North West who need immigration legal advice and representation.

Committed To Represent - exhibition celebrating immigration caseworkers, refugees