April-May Newsletter:
Summer is a comin' in but cast ne'er a clout 'til May be oot!
Hello friends,
We hope you’ve had a restful long-weekend.
It’s been a month of plenty and we’ve got so much to share with you. Our round-up includes the usual amazing content from the North of England as well as coverage from Wales and, of course, the Midlands - so there’s lots to keep you informed and inspired.
Look out for the independent commissions that we are now able to publish alongside our paid model content thanks to our Substack subscribers (and donors). Please do subscribe if you want to see more reflective, opinion driven and experimental content.
A few weeks ago Ben Barra (our Editor for Yorkshire and the Humber), Lauren Velvick (our Managing Editor) and I sat down with Wes Foster at East Street Arts in Leeds to talk Space Junk about our origins as a science fiction fantasy publication in Manchester, our expansion into the midlands and the bizarre cosmic coincidence that connects the two.
It was great to spend time together talking about our origin story and how we manage to keep this beautiful thing called Corridor8 moving, for the folks listening on the radio. The whole thing was broadcast by Sluice on Seyðisfjörður Community Radio over the weekend. (Yes, the same Icelandic town I wrote about in Explosion Day!) We also drop a few hints about a new print publication we’ve been working on…but more about that in June.
If you want to hear more from our amazing Managing Editor Lauren, I recommend hitting that subscribe button to read her candid and VERY relatable piece about navigating the difficult, unpredictable and relationship atomiser we call a career in the arts.
Subscribe to read:
Temporary arts contracts have made a reluctant nomad of me, and that's VERY interesting
I didn’t set out to live in every combined authority area in the North of England, it’s just what happens when you live from temporary contract to temporary contract at arts institutions. Not an intentional lifestyle, but one that I’ve chosen to the extent that it is now habit, and I haven’t found a way out of it. I’m writing about it here because it’s my turn to contribute to Corridor8’s substack, and this reluctant nomadism is part and parcel with my status as an artworker.
Round up of our reviews, features and interviews:
Energy House 2.0: Mishka Henner and Emily Speed, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester by Jack Nicholls
Turner: In Light and Shade Special Anniversary Celebration Event, The Whitworth, Manchester by Neil Greenhalgh
LULL, The Birley Project Space, Preston by Denise Courcoux
Loved and Lost and Loved Again, Crosby Library, Sefton, Merseyside by Sinéad Nunes
The Caravan Press and All the Better to Hear You With, Allan Bank, Grasmere, Cumbria by Francesca Brooks
scant: an interview, Saan Gallery, Manchester by Corridor8
Mani Kambo: Ax·is Mun·di, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead by Rachel Boyd
Friendship & Fantasy as Resistance: An interview with Keiken on residencies, and rewriting reality, modal gallery, SODA, Manchester by Lesley Taker
Maia Ruth Lee: Human Life in Motion, Primary, Nottingham by Vivien Chan
Marchnad/Market, Tŷ Pawb, Wales, by James Harper
Sean Roy Parker: stewarding, Manchester, by Joey Frances
Dining in the kiln: Aliyah Hussain and the Touchstones redevelopment, Touchstones Art Gallery, Rochdale by Natalie Russett
Unravelling: Samantha Cary, The Granary Gallery, Berwick-upon-Tweed by Caro Giles
Love and solidarity from Lesley and the Corridor8 team!
ps. remember to keep your vests on ‘til June!