Manic Mechanics exhibition at Ferens Art Gallery is a show with a difference

The traditional gallery warning "Do not touch" has been junked at the Ferens.

In Manic Mechanics, Moving Sculpture – a new exhibition at the Hull city centre venue – the emphasis is on "please touch".

Assistant curator of exhibitions Christine Rostron at Ferens Art Gallery with The Owl And The Pussycat by Johnny White and Amanda Wray, which is part of the Manic Mechanics exhibition.

Artists Johnny White and Amanda Wray have used scrap metal – including an old kitchen mixer, fire extinguishers and an exercise bike – to create a series of sculptures which move or light up at the pull of a lever.

"Visitors can come and make some noise," said Claire Longrigg, the gallery's assistant curator.

"It's about making things accessible to a different audience."

The exhibition collects work made across the past 20 years by the Derbyshire-based couple.

All of the artworks encourage visitors to get directly involved.

One exhibit, the Love Boat, has been built from the remains of an old River Thames hire boat. The two rowers – made from materials including old fashioned fire extinguishers – move when you peddle an exercise bike connected to the sculpture.

"One of the unique things is that a lot of the works have been made from scrap metal," said Claire.

"A lot of that material has been found – including an old kitchen mixer."

The mixer, used in the piece Head In A Whirl, reflects the comic elements of the couple's work.

Inspired by the upheavals when Johnny and Amanda moved to a new studio, Head In A Whirl features a head inside a spiral of metal made out of bolts. As the handle on the kitchen mixer is turned, the head spins around.

Another piece, But Soft, What Lout Through Yonder Window Breaks, shows a trumpet-playing angel with a pint glass of lager in its hand.

Some pieces, such as The Ship Of Fools, combine Amanda's human sculptures with metal-work by Johnny, who was once an apprentice fitter at a fish finger factory.

In this huge metallic sculpture, so large it had to be brought into the gallery in separate sections, the sleek shape of a submarine has been combined with a whale fin.

A series of Amanda's human sculptures – each exhibiting foolish human traits from lust to pride – lean out from the submarine's tower.

*Manic Mechanics, Moving Sculpture is on at the Ferens Art Gallery, Queen Victoria Square, Hull, until Sunday, September 5. Opening times Monday to Saturday, 10am-5pm; Sunday 1.30pm-4.30pm. Entrance is free.

Link: www.white-wray.co.uk