Zone Gallery was an acclaimed independent gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne committed to presenting contemporary lens-based work by established and emerging artists. From it’s opening in 1992 through to its closure in 1998, Zone established itself as a primary venue for the exhibition of photography and digital media and as a focus for critical debate in the Northern region of England. – Michelle Hirschhorn-Smith
Please join us for an introduction to the work of Zone Gallery (1992-1998) with Michelle Hirschhorn-Smith, curator at the gallery between 1995-98. Exhibiting the likes of Andres Serrano, Helen Chadwick, Bill Culbert, Sally Mann, Zofia Kulik, and Orlan, Zone Gallery played a role in helping to shape a critical dialogue around photography and the visual arts in the North East, as well as nationally and internationally.
An In-Conversation with Michelle and artist and educator Nicky Bird will follow.
Michelle Hirschhorn-Smith is an independent practitioner who initiates and manages solo and collaborative projects and events in galleries, site-specific and festival contexts, often in association with regional, national and international partners. She is interested in cross-disciplinary practice and works mainly across the fields of visual art, live art, digital media, moving image and sound. Based in Newcastle Upon Tyne since 1995, she worked as the Curator of Zone Gallery until its closure in 1998 and has been working in a freelance capacity ever since.
Nicky Bird is an artist whose work considers contemporary relevances of ‘found’ photographs and hidden histories of specific sites, investigating how they remain resonant. Her work incorporates new photography with oral histories and collaborations with people who have significant connections to the original site and its photographic archive. From 1997 to 2006, Nicky was a lecturer on the BA in Comtemporary Photographic Practice at Northumbria University. She is currrently Reader in Contemporary Photographic Practice at the Glasgow School of Art.
