FEATURE Nov 2026 All Roads Lead to The Manchester Contemporary

Nicole Slyu

The Manchester Contemporary returns to Manchester Central from 19 to 22 November. Arts professional and writer Nicole Slyu picks out the galleries, collectives and talks worth seeking out, from London’s emerging spaces to the Midlands and the North, and Manchester’s own galleries and studios.

Book your tickets to The Manchester Contemporary here

It’s that time of year again. The European art calendar is just starting to wind down. But before Christmas, another art fair is coming to town. The Manchester Contemporary (TMC) will not let the wicked rest, descending upon Manchester Central Convention Centre just prior to Black Friday. While it may not have the global reputation of other non-capital city fairs,  it is the word on the wire in Venice, as the fair’s curator, Nathaniel Pitt has revealed to me.

The art fair sits at the crossroads of two art worlds. TMC, a critical platform for contemporary art, is housed within a larger fair, the Manchester Art Fair (MAF), a more traditional commercial-style fair which brings together both galleries and independent artists. TMC takes up only a quarter of the total fair floor space, yet despite its size, its might is palpable.

Attracting the likes of major galleries such as Kate MacGarry and William Hine last year, and playing host to the unveiling of a new bronze bust by Morecambe-based artist Anthony D. Padgett of the then-Mayor of Manchester and incumbent PM Andy Burnham, TMC is considered an innovative risktaker that defies the current art fair model.  It balances a range of exhibitors that may not be familiar to the traditional art fair goer: high-end galleries focusing on conceptual work that exhibit in Europe and the Americas, alongside local artist collectives and studios. The focus is mostly on domestic production, with a mix of 20-odd galleries from across the UK, including the North West, the Midlands and London. 

Manchester has plenty of artists producing work in the city, via collectives and countless studios based in key architectural landmarks (its mills), but the commercial gallery scene is thin. That matters, because a gallery is an easy place to swing by, while an artist’s studio is private and a much more daunting door to knock on. The fair thus offers an opportunity not only to collectors seeking to enrich their collection and shop closer to home, but also to anyone who would like to see what contemporary artists today are creating across the country. 

As the largest art fair in the North West of England, TMC is, in the words of Pitt, an annual get-together for Manchester’s art dealers and creatives. It’s also a chance to discover the art ecosystem that exists in the city, from commercial galleries like Texture in Cheetham Hill to studios and collectives like AWOL and Rogue Women. Manchester School of Art also makes an appearance and provides a platform for students to showcase work in a professional commercial environment. Just a few feet away, London’s calling, and visitors can see what the Big Smoke has to offer. Hailing from north, south and east London, galleries are showing a selection from their roster, offering a rare chance to see what the London art scene actually looks like, for very rarely will a visit to London accommodate a trudge all the way to Dalston if the purpose of your visit is one of the central institutions (although if you’re going to Tate Modern, don’t miss Copperfield, just round the corner).

TMC offers a shortcut into that world — take advantage of it over the 4 days of the fair! This year, for the first time, TMC and MAF open on Thursday evening and last for three full days through Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Walk into the vast halls of the former Manchester Central railway station with an open mind and an appetite to discover something new, to see something great, and to engage in conversations that may result in unexpected connections.

Follow this handy guide to find your way around the fair.

If London is calling:

Copperfield 

stand 112

Housed in an architecturally repurposed former religious building just south of Tate Modern, Copperfield’s roster of emerging and established artists focuses on concept-led, multidisciplinary, multimedia practices. Last year the TMC Art Fund acquired Escort Conference (Self Portrait) (2023) by Hetain Patel, currently on view at Manchester Art Gallery.

Seventeen

stand 107

Founded in 2005 in East London and currently based in Dalston, Seventeen exhibits works by emerging artists, with a particular focus on moving image. This year they return to TMC with video and performance artist Nina Davies and hyperrealistic works by Northern artist Bex Massey.

Arcade

stand 207

Founded by Christian Mooney in 2007 and based in Southeast London, Arcade have been a Community Interest Company since 2021, with the aim of bridging the commercial and community aspects of the art world and supporting both artistic ambition and social impact. They return to TMC with a presentation of moving image work by Elliott Flanagan, focusing on his explorations of working class identity and  a summer spent as a Club 18-30 rep.

White Conduit Projects

stand 114

Founded in 2014 by Japanese gallerist and curator Yuki Miyake and currently based in Angel,  White Conduit Projects have something for JG Ballard fans: a presentation of work by Fay Ballard, his daughter. Producing at one point Richter-like drawings of old family photographs, her recent show at White Conduit Projects was more abstract, exploring grieving rituals and imagined worlds after we die. The booth will also show Tomoko Yoneda, William Mackrell and Karen Knorr.

If you’re in an experimental mood:

Crème Fraîche

stand 221

Crème Fraîche is the cream of the crop, quite literally, if the crop is this year’s degree shows. It’s an incubator for recent graduates, who are selected from annual degree shows and offered two years of creative and commercial mentoring alongside an exhibition programme at their Bloomsbury-based Viewing Rooms. Founded by Mark Stevenson in 2023, their aim is to give young artists the understanding, confidence and visibility to build a sustainable career, rather than calling it a day after one season. Many of the painters they work with have a saturated painterly style, which may attract fans of time-honoured painting techniques rather than high concept contemporary art.

Harlesden High Street

stand 106

Based in Ealing, Harlesden High Street wear their mission on their sleeve, and on their website, where they have a manifesto. They exist to open a door between experimental and outsider artists and the traditional gallery system, with a focus on artists of colour, and take workshops, talks and artist initiatives to audiences in un-gentrified neighbourhoods. I saw them last year at Basel Social Club with Kendra Jayne Patrick, where their joint effort, It’s a Whole Lotta Money (in this muf***er), was a fully functioning Black hair salon redolent with shea butter, plonked next to the buttoned-up architecture of Swiss discretion and generational wealth. While I was there, a woman in her 80s was getting a trim while a younger man waited in line. Worth queuing for.

If you’d like to look further afield:

Platform A (Middlesbrough)

stand 127

Based in the railway station of central Middlesbrough, Platform A will fit right into the former Manchester Central which shares the same lineage. The gallery is dedicated to innovative developments in contemporary art through a diverse programme of exhibitions, and has cultivated relationships with artists who build their practice through exploring a variety of materials and techniques. All aboard.

Noble and Common (Worcester)

stand 225

Noble and Common are a new Worcester gallery housed in the city’s historic Hop Market (hence the name that nods to ‘noble’ and ‘common’ hops) dedicated to new approaches to landscape painted. After subdued and quiet presentation in 2025 (small-scale, delicately painted landscapes, the opposite of the massive classical ones, which offered glimpses of the natural world and asked viewers to put in the effort and lean in closer) this year’s booth, Outbound Logistics curated by Daniel Pryde-Jarman, centres on Steven Allbutt’s The Loot series: three sculptures mounted inside their own transport crates, so the works arrive already packed to leave. They draw on British protest history, from Peterloo (which took place in St Peter’s Square around the corner) to the Poll Tax.

Portland Inn Project  (Stoke-on-Trent)

stand 216

Its organisers used to run Airspace Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, and a work by Ian McIntyre, a re-engineered Brown Betty teapot, was acquired by TMC Art Fund during its second year, 2018, so it will be interesting to see what’s brewing this time around.

If you’re interested in artist collectives and initiatives:

Studio Wall (Birmingham)

stand 125

Studio Wall are a collective of figurative painters from Birmingham Artscape, set up by Annette Pugh. They have shown annually at TMC since 2024, hanging only small paintings that draw on archive, photographic and printed sources, which makes for an intimate wall.

Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup 

stand 220

A collaborative artist project created by fifteen regional sculptors from the Yorkshire Sculpture International (YSI) Sculpture Network 2025 cohort, including our very own Manchester-based artist Alana Lake. The project’s familiar name symbolises listening, making and connection (hear hear!).

AWOL Studios (Manchester)

stand 123

A fantastic tapestry of output from artists working in Manchester today, based locally at Hope Mill in Ancoats, including Jude Wainwright’s whimsical self-portraits in fairytale woods, in equal parts delightful and unsettling.

If you’d like to support women-focused initiatives:

SLQS x Art Elsewhere (London)

stand 111

Despite sounding like another Mary Beard publication, the London gallery takes its name from the founder’s initials. In the founder’s own words: “SLQS Gallery emerges at a pivotal cultural moment when the need for unapologetic spaces for women and queer voices has never been more urgent.” At TMC 2026 they have partnered up with Art Elsewhere, a curatorial platform and advisory, and will be showing works by Beverley Duckworth (among others), whose Rise series is drawing from life, quite literally: roots grown on hand-dyed muslin into delicate, near-symmetrical patterns, then preserved in a hand-waxed frame. Seeds, for Duckworth, are a disruptive force, and a quiet form of ecological resistance.

Cassinelli Mills (London)

stand 203

Based in London and also taking their name from their founders’ surnames (aptly sounding like another Manchester initiative), Cassinelli Mills work as a gallery and support Artist Living Legacies, focusing on women and non-binary artists. Griselda Pollock is a patron. They will be offering a residency in their Devon-based Southcombe Barn to a Manchester artist presenting at the fair. A residency in Devon: the closest an art fair gets to a prize holiday.

Rogue Women (Manchester)

stand 119

An all-female artist collective from Rogue Artists’ Studios —  the largest independent studio group in the North West with more than 85 artists, based in Openshaw. This year’s presentation will be curated by Jen Orpin. A local and personal favourite, whose work, acquired by the TMC Art Fund in 2023, hangs in the Lowry/Valette room at Manchester Art Gallery, her desolate highways reminiscent of Lowry’s own bleak vision of the north. Also showing will be Manchester artists Rachel Addis, Ali Friend and Ruth Murray (also acquired by the TMC Art Fund in 2023), among many others.

If you’d like to peruse local talent:

Saul Hay Gallery

stand 224

Local art scene veteran Saul Hay celebrated their 10th year in 2026, but sadly closed their space in Castlefield earlier this year. Thankfully they are returning to the fair, and this year they will be in the TMC section. Founders Catherine and Ian Hay bring work by Mandy Payne, a Sheffield-based artist whose work focuses on the built environment, primarily Brutalist, so familiar to Northern England.

Texture

stand 103

Commercial newcomer Texture returns to TMC 2026, now working from their new gallery space in Cheetham Hill. Founded just last year by Will Marshall, they are a very welcome addition to Manchester’s sparse commercial gallery scene. In 2025 the TMC Art Fund acquired two works by Errol Theunissen, a self-taught painter from Zimbabwe now based in Middlesbrough, which currently hang in the Lowry/Valette room at Manchester Art Gallery.

Salad

stand 100

A curatorial project by Andrew McDonald and Pat Flynn, originally set up to curate a stand at The Manchester Contemporary, Salad brings together a group of artists based in Manchester.  They have returned to the fair year after year, and in 2025 the TMC Art Fund acquired a work by Brass Art (an all-female artist trio) which is currently on display in the Old Masters room at Manchester Art Gallery. 

I keep coming back to the TMC Art Fund and for a very good reason; since its launch in 2017, the fund has acquired 48 works of art for Manchester Art Gallery’s (MAG) permanent collection — a collection that belongs to the people of Manchester. The organisers call it one of the largest and fastest-growing philanthropic acquisition funds in the UK. According to Pitt, this year the fund has £53k at its disposal to collect for MAG. The 2026 selection will be announced at the Thursday preview. Mancunians can enjoy the fruits of these acquisitions for free at our very own doorstep, at MAG. Currently on view, besides the works mentioned above, are works by Katie Tomlinson (via Brooke Benington), Lisa Milroy (via Kate MacGarry) and Lindsey Bull (via William Hine), acquired from their London galleries’ presentations at TMC 2025. It is a fantastic initiative which allows MAG to acquire works by established artists and grow the collection.

A rich programme of talks is also on the cards at Central 5, by the main entrance of Manchester Central. On Friday 20 November you can catch a talk on the TMC Art Fund at 11:30am, featuring Fiona Corridan from Manchester Art Gallery, Pitt, and artists Fay Ballard and Nina Davies. At 2pm, esea contemporary director Xiaowen Zhu leads a panel discussion about producing as a creative practice, speaking with practitioners across a range of creative industries such as artist Luka Yuanyuan Yang and journalist and writer Vivienne Chow, both from London, as well as Freo Majer, founder of Forecast Berlin, and producer Ekene Akalawu from BBC, Salford. Then at 4:30pm you can dive into the moving image work of Elliott Flanagan, followed by a conversation about working class experience in the art world with Beth Hughes, who leads on the Working Class British Art Network, and Pitt. On Saturday 21 November at 10:30am you can join intergenerational artist duo and lesbian living art history project Ford & Field of Cassinelli Mills, composed of Rachael Field and Sarah-Joy Ford, to explore their collaborative practice of creating art-historical legacies in real time.

Last but not least, beyond the stands of the art fair is the closing party at Paradise Works on Saturday 21 November, 3-10pm. This coincides with their Open Studios and gives visitors a look at their current exhibition Dance With Me by Donald Shek, which includes the immersive workshop he led at esea contemporary this September, exploring dance, movement and the act of being through 3D scanning and AI motion capture.

TMC opens with the preview on Thursday 19 November (5–9pm), then runs Friday 11am–7pm, Saturday 10am–6pm and Sunday 10am–4pm at Manchester Central.