Star date: 12th January 2019 

SALFORD COUNCIL WINS ARTS APPRECIATION AWARD FOR COMPLAINT AGAINST SALFORD STAR EXHIBITION

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the final two awards of the12th annual Salford Star Mary Burns Awards, which are given out to honour the most deserving individuals and organisations in the city for their stupid statements, dodgy dealings and iffy activities over the past twelve months.

For the penultimate Mary this year, we travel to Salford Precinct where the Salford Star held a very successful auction and exhibition, with one of the prize exhibits an art installation featuring a toilet full of broken Salford promises, which didn't go down too well with Salford Council for some reason. Ladies and gentlemen, flush your minds for the winner of the Art Appreciation Award.

Full details here...

ART APPRECIATION AWARD

Goes to...

SALFORD CITY COUNCIL

Ladies and gentlemen, Salford's history has been suffused with art, sculpture and graphic design by some of the very best creators in the world.

Indeed, about 18 months ago, Salford Council produced the brief for a £70,000 culture consultant stating that it wanted to "Embed culture in the making of places and the life of the whole city...Preserve and develop our cultural heritage and make it relevant and applicable to today and tomorrow, to all of Salford's communities but also people across the world" etc etc... (see here)

So, just before Christmas, the Salford Star was kindly given a free unit by Salford Precinct in which to hold an auction and exhibition. We brought in artists from all over Salford and beyond to help out, and the result was an edgy space complete with spray paint titles, a mausoleum for old Salford, and photos of riots, bulldozers and protest nailed on the walls (see here).

One of the highlights was a window display called The Toilet of Broken Salford Promises. It featured a genuine seventies avocado toilet overflowing with printed Salford strategies, pledges and policies spewed up over the lifetime of the Salford Star.

There was everything in there, from old copies of the Council propaganda mag, LIFE, to the £53million New Deal for Communities brochures, to glossy prospectuses from Peel Holdings and Countryside Properties. And loads and loads and loads of Council reports droning on about 'affordable housing', 'your media city' etc.

They were all displayed in beautiful cascading splendour by one of the city's top artists and the installation was extremely popular, bringing a knowing smile to the happy faces of window shoppers and exhibition visitors alike. And then...

...And then, the Salford Star got notice that Salford Council had complained about the installation...which was a bit of a sad reflection on its cultural strategy - and also a bit late because the exhibition had already finished by the time the tirade was filtered through to the organisers.

Next time, of course, the Salford Star will only exhibit wonderful images of Fred Done's Blackfriars block by night, the Salford Council Cabinet in new realism Soviet pose and many oil paintings of developers reaping in their harvest of profits.

So, ladies and gentlemen, go bog-eyed, flush out your free thinking and chain up your creativity for the winner of the Salford Star Mary Burns Art Appreciation Award...

Salford City Council!!!

If someone from Salford Council would like to make an acceptance speech, please use the comments box below...

See other winners of the 2018 Salford Star Mary Burns Awards...

The Donald Trump Award For Media Dissing - Charlie Winstanley - click here

Disappearing Salford Award – Urban Splash/Alliance Investments – click here

Feed The Rich Award - Fred Done - click here

International Award - Manchester City Council - click here

Universal Catastrophe Award - Conservative Government - click here

Real Digital Council of the Year - Salford City Council - click here

Cuadrilla Award for Attempted Protest Stifling - Bellway Homes - click here

Uncle Joe Stalin Award for Open and Democratic Government - Salford City Council - click here

Grenfell Tower Memorial Award - Salford City Council, Pendleton Together and the Conservative Government - click here

Radio Ga Ga Nursery Award - Salford City Council - click here