Exhibitions at School of Digital Arts

Every year students from the School of Art and School of Digital Arts (SODA) prepare for their Degree Show in the form of an exhibition. Earlier this year Charlie, a final year university student studying photography contacted Out In The City.

She came to a couple of meetings in Manchester and met us when the group visited the town of Bakewell. Her work revolves around the idea of building relationships with the people in the photos.

Members of Out In The City met in Manchester city centre and travelled by bus to On The Eighth Day Shop & Café – a workers’ cooperative established in 1970 – selling hearty, healthy, homemade vegetarian and vegan food. After lunch we walked to the SODA building.

Charlie wanted to get to know us before taking photographs, and it was a two-way process. So, let’s dish the dirt on Charlie: she uses the word “queer” to describe herself, drinks coffee rather than tea and dances like a wally. Her work won an award under the category of Social Change.

Although it was the longest day of the year (21 June) Stephen had to dash off home before it got dark.

More photos can be seen here.

Happy Birthday Alan Turing!

If you have visited Sackville Gardens in Manchester you will know that Alan Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist.

On what would have been his 111th birthday (on 23 June) here are some “fun facts” that you may not know:

• Turing reportedly had an IQ of 185 but in many ways he was a typical teenager. Turing’s report card from Sherborne School in Dorset notes his weakness in English and French studies.

• Like many geniuses, Turing was not without his eccentricities. He wore a gas mask while riding his bike to combat his allergies. Instead of fixing his bike’s faulty chain, he learned exactly when to dismount to secure it in place before it slipped off. He was known around Bletchley Park for chaining his tea mug to a radiator to prevent it from being taken by other staff members.

• Alan Turing created the first-ever computer chess programme, although at that time, there was no computer to try it out on! He created an algorithm for an early version of computer chess with pencil and paper. The Turochamp programme was designed to think two moves ahead, picking out the best moves possible.

• The Benedict Cumberbatch film about his life, The Imitation Game, received eight Oscar nominations.

• He almost became an Olympic athlete. He came in fifth place at a qualifying marathon for the 1948 Olympics with a 2-hour, 46-minute finish (11 minutes slower than the 1948 Olympic marathon winner). However, a leg injury held back his athletic ambitions that year.

• In 2009, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a public apology to Turing on behalf of the British government. His conviction for  “gross indecency” under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 was not actually pardoned, though, until 2013, when he received a rare royal pardon from the Queen.

George Michael to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

George Michael talks about his sexuality (1998)

George Michael, who would have been 60 this week (born 25 June 1963), will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year. It’s the first year the late British musician has been eligible, according to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame rules.

Michael was the most-played artist on British radio between 1984 and 2004, the organisation said.

“George Michael possessed extraordinary talent as a songwriter, vocalist and producer,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame said in announcing Michael as an inductee.

Michael formed the pop duo Wham! with schoolmate Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. They achieved teen idol status with the hits “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and the timeless holiday megahit “Last Christmas”.

Michael’s foray into the solo spotlight with the introspective hits “Careless Whisper” and “A Different Corner” eventually spelled the end of Wham! in 1986.

Michael went on to release his debut solo album “Faith” in 1987.

“With well-crafted hooks, mature lyrics, and funk and Motown influences, ‘Faith’ was a Number One smash boasting four hit singles, including the title track and ‘Father Figure’,” hall of fame organisers said. “Echoes can be heard in the impassioned vocals and personal lyrics of artists from Adele to Lady Gaga to Mary J Blige.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame called George Michael’s “Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1” a “masterpiece” that “alludes to Michael’s struggle as a closeted gay man during the height of the AIDS epidemic. However, after coming out in 1998, Michael refused to shy away from honesty again,” the group said.

Michael died in 2016 of heart and liver disease. He was 53.

Other artists who will be inducted this year who hadn’t been nominated before include Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliot, Willie Nelson, and Rage Against the Machine.

The Spinners, who had been nominated in previous years, also will be inducted.

George Michael won the fan vote ahead of the official announcement of inductees with more than 1 million votes. Cyndi Lauper came in second with 928,113. The 38th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on 3 November at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

Date for the diary – Macclesfield Pride

Cheddar Gorgeous rejects LGBT Awards

Cheddar Gorgeous has pulled out of the British LGBT Awards after climate campaigners said they would protest outside over its sponsorship deals with Shell and BP.

Cheddar joins a host of other stars who have publicly withdrawn from the event over its fossil fuel links.

The awards ceremony honours LGBT celebrities, role models and organisations. But nominees began pulling out after campaigners warned them it had become an exercise in corporate “pinkwashing” for oil and gas companies.

Cheddar Gorgeous, who found fame after appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race, said it was “with sadness but necessary resolve” that they were rejecting a nomination for “TV moment of the year”.

Writing on Instagram, they said: “The event unfortunately has a number of sponsors with questionable track records on climate change, racism and inequality, including BP and Shell. These two in particular have consistently failed to back up rhetoric of low carbon transition with actions to that effect. Given the nomination was offered for an act of creative advocacy, it wouldn’t feel right to be part of the event knowing the damage these companies are still doing to the environment and communities most affected by climate change.”