Manning repurposes disused and broken technologies by altering existing components to create dynamic sculptures and atmospheric installations, bringing them into conversation with the utilitarian object. By making interventions on electronics and machines, for example flatscreen tvs and projectors, he sets out to demystify their rarified position and to experiment with their material capabilities. Through this process of demystification, he accesses the possibilities for sensory experience. By making the machine work in a unique way, outside of the set parameters of common operation, he hopes to explore the human experience in an increasingly digital reality.
Whilst his work addresses science and technology, it also references the legacy of minimalism, sound art and expanded cinema.
In 2017, the Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane) presented a survey exhibition of Manning’s work, which will tour to ten venues across Australia between 2018-20. His work has been included in the 2016 Shanghai Biennale and the 2014 Biennale of Sydney. Manning has received major commissions from the Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane, 2015), Len Lye Centre | Govett- Brewster Gallery (New Zealand, 2016), and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul, South Korea, 2016).
