Saan1 occupies three floors of a townhouse on Kelvin Street, tucked down a quiet Northern Quarter side street with no signage to announce it. Ken and his wife, who moved to Manchester from Hong Kong, opened the space in April 2022 after noticing there was nowhere locally for artists from the city's Hong Kong community to show work. The name means mountain in Cantonese. There is no curatorial manifesto: exhibitions are proposed and run by the artists themselves, with the couple providing the space and practical guidance rather than dictating a programme. Since opening, more than seventy group and solo shows have passed through its rooms, ranging from ceramics and textiles to abstract painting and performance, alongside events built around cultural exchange between Manchester and Hong Kong.
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