No such thing
No such thing was not my idea.
No such thing began in 2012. Renny O’Shea and Richard Gregory of Quarantine, were invited to make a response to the subject of ‘hospitality’, in a non-arts space, by curators Laura Mansfield and Swen Steinhauser, for their 7 Sites project…
“We decided to make something in a curry café because they played such a particular role in Manchester’s city centre identity and culture. We’d lived around the corner and eaten in Kabana for 20 years… The event was supposed to be a one-off, but we enjoyed it so much and got so much out of it that we carried on. Somehow it began to form the essence, in miniature, of everything we do as Quarantine. And so, once a month for 10 years, we invited strangers to join us for lunch and a conversation, one-to-one. We meet, we talk, we eat, we say goodbye. That’s it.”
However, I became a kind of custodian for the project, working with Renny to write the menu of questions and hosting many of the conversations.
It has been a huge influence of how & why I make work.
During lockdown we tried an online version of the project, and it allowed for other people to join the conversation, who, for whatever reason, couldn’t before. But we did miss the sharing of a meal and the physical presence of the other person.
In November 2022 I collaborated with Richard and Renny to create a one-off 10-year anniversary event in Kabana to celebrate a decade of making No Such Thing. We took over the whole cafe occupying each table. We used a selection of menus written over the last 10 years. Lisa Mattocks created a pocket book with texts, images and recipes, reflecting on our time at Kabana, and hopes for the project in the future.
Musician Graham Massey gave a short talk on his personal history of the curry cafés of Manchester & Artist Lowri Evans hosted the event.
It was also Riz’s birthday (cafe owner) and we all ate cake.
Quarantine want to keep meeting strangers and sharing conversations, keep finding new environments, inside and outside, where No Such Thing might take place. This might be in other cafes, as a picnic in a park or in other public contexts. If you’re interested, send a message here.