Born in China in 1956 and 1962 respectively, Cai Yuan and Jian Jun Xi have been living and working in the United Kingdom since the 1980s. Cai Yuan trained in oil painting at Nanjing College of Art, Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art. Jianjun Xi trained at the Central Academy of Applied Arts in Beijing and later at Goldsmiths College. They started working as a performance duo in the late nineties with their action Two Artists Jump on Tracey Emin’s Bed (1999) at Tate Britain’s Turner Prize Exhibition. 

Mad For Real (Cai Yuan and Jian Jun Xi)’s oeuvre has continually questioned the relationship of power to the individual. Using a position of resistance Cai and Xi have consistently produced work which is necessarily oppositional yet the warmth and humour of their work also acts to draw viewers in. their performance have taken place as radical gesture calling to mind notorious artists of earlier radical art movements but the historical, linguistic and political context of their practice is often related specifically to their origins: China

LUVA is an artist run gallery, experiment, and social hub. Open for just one day a month and situated in a lock up garage on the Approach council estate in East London, LUVA is dedicated to exhibiting diverse contemporary UK artists.

Founded and co-run by Jordan McKenzie and students from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art, LUVA asks critical questions about the contexts contemporary art sits within, its relationship to the geographical/ economic/social and cultural space (the estate) that it occupies and how cultural institutions can have meaningful dialogues with both local and non-local audiences.

LUVA is committed to providing material support to the community it is based within. We’re teaming up with the First Love Foundation who give food, support and advice to local people in crisis.

Islington Mill Art Academy (IMAA) is our free peer-led art school. It is open to anyone who wants to be an artist. Learning activity (workshops, crits, coaching, group residencies and projects) is shared and led by the energy and ideas of current student-members. The Academy is not formally accredited; students choose to graduate when they feel ready to work more independently as artists.

IMAA positions itself within the wider ethos of trust and an openness to try new things embedded at the Mill. It is a place to experiment and enquire; to translate arts education into something viable and meaningful in the real world. The Academy gives artists an opportunity to take control of their own learning through facilitation, practice and experimentation.

Islington Mill Arts Academy will be running a series of workshops at the Manchester City Art Gallery