Art Battle MCR comes to Ancoats – 26th Sept

After 4 previous sell out events Art Battle MCR have decided to step things up a notch and are bringing their whirlwind evening of creative chaos to The Engine Room, 26th Sept. With new additions and exciting twists it’s set to be their most exciting event yet.

Having held previous battles at Contact Theatre and the Soup Kitchen, moving to The Engine Room has allowed Art Battle MCR to scale things up massively. Their 5th event will be their biggest yet with 300 tickets on sale. As well as including live music and a very well stocked bar they’re planning to exhibit the work of the featured artists, introduce an outdoor graffiti element and live spray a car in The Engine Room’s expansive outdoor space.

art battle

If you’re unfamiliar, at Art Battle MCR ten artists from different disciplines have 30mins to create a new piece of work in front of a live audience (think Fight Club with more frantic brush strokes and palette mixing than flying punches and bare chested men). For the artists and audience alike it’s high-octane fun made even more intense because no-one can ever really be sure of the outcome – and that’s just the way they like it!

At the end of the evening the audience vote for their favourite piece produced on site and the King or Queen of the Canvases is crowned, then all work is auctioned off for charity and this time Forever Manchester are the collective in question.

XFM’s Hattie Pearson has the honour of referring this time round and the bar will be provided by Holt brewery. All in all it’s set to be a blistering night! We can’t wait!

Tickets :: http://bit.ly/1IanQyS

@artbattlemcr @hopemillevents

art battle

by Categories: Art Events, Hope Mill Events, Manchester Art, The Engine Room EventsTags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Engine Room’s First Ever Wedding!

So we are over the moon to announce that The Engine Room’s first ever wedding was a roaring success. Thanks to the meticulous and budget savvy planning of the bride Emily Dale, our industrial warehouse space was transformed into a festival-feel love den.

Engine Room 1

Emily and Sam decided way in advance that they wanted to avoid a traditional set-up during their big day.

Engine Room2After dressing the space with festival style wooden trestle tables, comfy leather sofa’s, incredible light installations that spelled their initials and even finding a three-tiered Pork Pie wedding cake they certainly managed to create a memorable day with a few unforgettable twists.

Seats w Bar

Add into the mix cocktails and cask ales from local bar company Those Four and lighting and sound system from Neuron Pro Audio (regular Engine Room collaborators) and you had one of the most fun and laid-back weddings of the year.

Emily and Sam were so unconventional that instead of having a first dance they ended up having a last dance off circle which saw Sam break dancing and Emily finish off the night with a full split in her wedding gown.

The Shed 2

We wish them all the best in their future and thank them for making our events space look so amazing!

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The Engine Room – Fueled by it’s Surroundings

Here it is then – The Engine Room’s very first blog post!

So let’s not beat around the bush, Ancoats has got it going on. Our area is saturated with history, it’s non-pretentious, full of industrial charm and right on our doorstep is the Ashton canal. If you walk along it’s tow paths at any time of day or night you’ll hear local bands practising and see grafters crafting inside their studios. Ancoats is a hub of creativity energy. We wanted to create a space that complimented this vibe and stayed true to the Mancunian ethos – somewhere unique, somewhere robust and somewhere capable of hosting big ideas.

Lucky for us inside Hope Mill was 335sqm of unused space that we knew with just a little TLC could make an amazing venue. This was where the dream began. In bygone years The Engine Room was used for housing huge looms that processed cotton during the city’s industrial boom, considering the size of these machines floor space was never going to be in short supply! Hope Mill itself was originally built in 1824 and is believed to have been the first mill in the area. Since opening this building has been in constant commercial use for nearly 200 yrs, few of Manchester’s historic mills can claim the same.

During renovations we made a decision to keep as many of the original features of the building intact as possible. It was hugely important to us to keep this heritage site as true to it’s original form as possible. Now inside The Engine Room you can see pillars, arches, fixtures and fittings that remain exactly the same as the day they were built.

A pictures says a thousand words right? So here’s some snaps of our venue and the amazing events we’ve already held here.

The Shed Hope Mill by Jody Hartley
Upper Space’s Politika Launch – Held at The Engine Room Sept ’14 – Photograph by Jody Hartley
The Fingers Crossed Exhibition - held March '13
The Fingers Crossed Exhibition – held March ’13
AWOL residents
AWOL Studio’s 10th Annual Open Evening and Residents Exhibition – Held May ’15

We can also boast that Cosmic Joke, Video Ink and Anattic TV have used The Engine Room for shoots for their independent film and music videos. We’ll get those videos up as soon as we get the thumbs up from these you to see!

Get in touch with steftheengineroom@mail.com if you’d like to come and see the space for yourself, she’ll be happy to show you round!

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