March-April Newsletter: springing into the new quarter
The month has been a busy one for our writers across all the regions and creating in community has never felt more important...
Not quite fifteen years ago, on a very cold morning, my friend called me over to marvel at a little stalactite that had formed on a water pipe in our studio at The Royal Standard (TRS), Liverpool. This friend had recently recovered from a bout of gout brought on not by over indulgence, but by an impoverished diet consisting of mostly homemade vegetable soup. We were stoics and the looks of pride we exchanged over the discovery of the stalactite are now remembered with a wince of embarrassment. The friend and I formed part of TRS’s Directorial Team; a bunch of people in their then early to mid-twenties who were trying their hand at building careers in the Arts. When the whole studio complex flooded as a result of a burst pipe, the stalactite, which was almost certainly a warning sign, was never mentioned to the wider team. This is the first time that the stalactite has been spoken of in public.
I was reminded of this anecdote from my late childhood on reading two of Corridor 8’s most recent reviews about shows that took place in independent art spaces. The first, by Mia Stoces-Brown, reflects on an exhibition and music event at Liverpool's artist-led CBS gallery. The second, by Laura Biddle, considers the culmination of a residency programmed by PINK as part of the organisation’s ongoing enquiry into what an art space can offer Stopfordians (it’s not Berlin). In both instances these venues offer creative communities a hub and provide space and time for people to test ideas, fail safely (sorry for flooding the studio) and learn. It’s these kinds of initiatives (TRS included) that sustain the artistic life of the towns and cities they occupy whilst continuing to provide routes into creative careers at a time when DCMS funding is being slashed and traditional arts venues are struggling.
Corridor8 is also part of this effort, providing paid opportunities for writers from across the North and the Midlands to represent the diverse range of activity that continues to flourish against the odds. In these strange times it feels more important than ever to support each other and keep alive networks of creativity and promote exchange.
And with exchange in mind, I fully recommend heading over to our Substack to read Lesley Guy’s (our Northeast Editor) essay on Soup which reflects on her time spent at LungA Art School in Iceland.
“An art practice with others is an infrastructure like soup. How best to describe it? Heuristic, generative, hermeneutic (concerning interpretation). And it requires friendship, which requires the decision to be with someone you don’t know, which means we don’t have to understand one another or agree.”
Subscribe to read: Explosion Day, Seyðisfjörður, 2025
Round up of our reviews, features and interviews:
There is nothing old under the sun: an interview with Steph Huang, Cross Lane Projects, Kendal by Vivienne Chan
Echo Mapping: Elaine Grainger and Moa Gustafsson-Söndergaard, PINK, Stockport by Laura Biddle
In-Situ: Inside Out Pendle, In-Situ, Brierfield by Jessica El Mal
Rhea Storr: Subjects of State, Labours of Love, Site Gallery, Sheffield by Ghadah Habib
Mixed Up: Music and The Art School, Blenheim Walk Gallery, Leeds Arts University, Leeds by Aidan Winterburn
Women In Revolt: Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990, The Whitworth, Manchester by Jazmine Linklater
Shadow and Void: Buddha10 , esea contemporary, Manchester by Chloe Elliott
Monster Truck, CBS gallery, Liverpool by Mia Stoces-Brown
Imran Perretta: A Riot In Three Acts, Home, Manchester by Kirsty Jukes
Deluge: Oscar van Heek, Linda Ex and Dana Olǎrescu Art Gene, Barrow in Furnace by Simon Sylvester
Love and solidarity from Nat and the Corridor8 team x