Feb/March Newsletter
Art in dark times
"In the dark times / Will there also be singing? / Yes, there will be singing / About the dark times" Bertolt Brecht, ‘Motto’(1938)
While the world goes to hell in a handcart I sometimes wonder why we keep making, writing about and enjoying art. I think about the suffering of those at the sharp end of conflict and the multitudes of injustices I see on my screen everyday and wonder if what we do makes any kind of difference.
Without art though, what then? To imagine a world without it, now that would be a dark place. Brecht’s verse, written while in exile from Nazi Germany, reminds me that art is inevitable even if it can’t make the dark times go away. Through the making of and critical engagement with culture we find space to imagine and create change. Art lets us remember that we need beauty, humour, protest and rebellion to thrive and that transformation is possible.
In our latest essay The Nature of Gothic: Cultivation, Curation, and the Working-Class Voice, writer and filmmaker Peter Shukie takes us on a journey through the works on show at Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery, reflecting upon their histories and social implications and providing a brilliant critique of bourgeoise values within the display of heritage. He concludes, ‘Culture should make us think, not settle into silence. The cracks remain, and it is through them that light — and the possibility of change — still enters’. Brecht also says, in ‘The threepenny Lawsuit’ (c1932) that ‘Contradictions are our hope!’ Thank you Peter, thank you Bertolt.
I feel lucky to be working in the arts - no matter how dysfunctional the art world is - and I feel hopeful that the work we publish on our website and here on Substack contributes towards the critical debate and the reimagining of better worlds that we all need right now.
If you want to read more and be part of the discussion please subscribe. Your contribution will help us commission more essays like this.
Round up of our reviews, features and interviews:
Hardeep Pandhal: Saag and Fish Fingers at Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham by our West Midlands editor Kevin Hunt.
Firehawks at Open Eye Gallery by our Merseyside and Cheshire editor Natalie Hughes.
Ethereal Matter at BasementArtsProject, Leeds by Kerry Harker.
Desire Lines at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art by Kate Sweeney.
Pathways: Exploring Bloc Projects’ Artist Development Programme by Jessica Piette.
Delaine Le Bas: Un-Fair-Ground at the Whitworth by our Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria editor Jazmine Linklater.
Attenborough Arts Centre: A Decade of Exhibitions by Anna Li.
News
Our Merseyside editor Natalie Hughes will be leading an Artist Office drop-in for At The Library on Tuesday 10th March (on every second Tuesday of the month) in the Community room, Crosby Library, 10am - 3pm.
Natalie will speak about Corridor8, telling you how to get involved and pitch ideas before she hosting a short writing workshop.
For the fourth (and final - for now?) edition 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 have invited Ashley Holmes to join them, in partnership with Berwick Film & Media Arts Fest. There are limited free tickets available for our regular audience or entry is included with BFMAF passes. Maltings Cinema at Berwick Barracks, Sunday 22 March, Doors 13:45.
𝗔𝘀𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗺𝗲𝘀 will present an iteration of his ongoing series, 𝘋𝘶𝘣 𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, here centred around Luton Carnival in the 2000s, picking up and building on threads drawn out in Jennifer Reid and Ellie Armon Azoulay’s earlier listening sessions and Giles Bailey’s communally performed reinterpretations.
Our very own and very talented poet Jazmine Linklater has a number of UK events lined up for her new publication 𝘚𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 this month. On the 19th of March she will be reading at 1b Books in Newcastle and I’ll be there! Check out the link below to see the other dates and to get more information.
Potato’s forthcoming edition of JAWS 12.2 ‘A Potato Codex: An illuminated book of experimental and collaborative writing’ currently has a call for papers and the deadline has been extended!!
Potato Press have been invited to guest edit JAWS - journal for art writing. Potato Press is an experimental art press based at Northumbria University and run by our North East editor Lesley Guy along with Kate Liston and Tom O’Sullivan. Submit your work by 27th April.
For those of you wondering what the singing-about-the-dark-times might sound like…(thank you Rosalía, thank you Björk).
With love and solidarity from Lesley and the Corridor8 team.