WIREDGOV

The public have spoken to decide which museums and galleries six contemporary artists will be paired with for Museum at Night’s next big festival in October.

34,000 members of the public have cast their votes to decide where six contemporary artists, including Yinka Shonibare MBE, Pure Evil and Gillian Wearing, will head to for Museums at Night’s new October festival which is taking place on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 October 2015.

Supported by funding from Arts Council England, Connect! gives cultural venues the opportunity to try something different and attract new audiences by creating exciting out-of-the-ordinary events.

The six winning museums and galleries hosting special events by artists during the October festival are:

• Backlit Gallery in Nottingham will host Gillian Wearing for a ‘Karaoke Selfie’ event with local writers, spoken word groups and the wider community.
• Freud Museum in London and Alinah Azadeh will give visitors the chance to recline on a Freudian couch and tidy up unfinished business through storytelling and gift-giving.
• The Novium in Chichester will explore Yinka Shonibare’s favourite theme of identity with visitors, community groups and students to create an Alternative Museum collection.
• Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton, Devon, will welcome Luke Jerram to create a participatory experience based on the past occupants of the gallery’s Georgian building.
• Verdant Works in Dundee is set to be joined by Pure Evil and will use their collections and archive to ask young people to ‘WEAR THEIR POLITICS PROUDLY’.
• The Williamson Art Gallery and Museum  in Birkenhead will see Davy and Kristin McGuire create a series of grottos using projections, lighting, contemporary interventions, textures, sound and print.

This year saw some of the tightest results the Connect! competition has ever seen, with The Novium winning Yinka Shonibare by 41 votes and Thelma Hulbert Gallery winning Luke Jerram by only six votes.

“This year’s Connect! competition has given six diverse venues the chance to work with some of the most creative talents in the country,” said Nick Stockman, Campaigns Manager at Museums at Night.

“In October’s Museums at Night festival the winning venues, together with their artists, will create unique and special events that will again involve the very people that voted for them to happen – an unprecedented collaboration between contemporary artist, cultural venue and the general public.”

Find out more

Full results can be seen here.

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