Steve Brown, 59, is telling me about the first time he was sectioned. He experienced a psychotic episode and jumped through the window of a building. During one of his early stints in hospital, he was encouraged by a nurse to go to a creative writing class to help his recovery. These days, he focuses…
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The Order of the Fool (TOOTF) identify themselves as a ‘coven of pictorial alchemists’. Their latest interactive exhibition, Street Tarot, arrived in the Northern Quarter in October. Anyone with an open mind and heart was welcome to explore the outdoor exhibit, which featured 22 works of art, and have their fortune read. Tarot cards were…
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A Modest Show explores food, hospitality, consumption and dining across multiple venues in Manchester. It’s the local counterpart to the British Art Show, a national touring exhibition organised every five years by Hayward Gallery. The exhibition features 42 artists living and / or working in Greater Manchester who were chosen following an open call out…
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When Magma shut its doors on Oldham street almost two years ago, after serving Manchester’s creatives, students and book lovers for almost 20 years, many felt as if a part of the city’s heart had been lost. Tim Bell managed the shop from 2008 and he tells me about the challenges the independent magazine industry…
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As the anniversary of his father’s death approached, Wajid Yaseen searched for a set of cassette tapes holding recordings of his father singing naats, a form of Islamic devotional hymn. Listening to the tapes transported Yaseen back to his childhood and days he spent singing with his father. While reminiscing, he came across another set…
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Boy Harsher’s directorial debut, The Runner, is an intriguing project. The moody, Massachusetts-based electronic duo released their short film and its soundtrack together ahead of their US and European tour this year. It’s a beautifully shot horror set in the eerie prairies of middle America, interspersed with a meta documentary about the band’s recording process.…
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A vintage, four-legged stereo system stands on a small stage in Central Library’s performance space. The audience gathered around it are invited to tune into late-night talk radio show Dream FM, whose presenter asks a deceptively simple question: “Where do you drift behind closed eyes?” Since August, residents from across Greater Manchester have been leaving…
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A grey, hazy veil has been placed over my vision. I sit hidden within the armour of my car, parked at the roadside, gazing at passers-by. I know this street and yet it looks so unfamiliar. I know that bend in the road, yet it looks like a stranger. As I stare, the road changes…
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Published by Verso in August, Investigative Aesthetics is a book about the theory and practices of investigation, art and politics. The book’s authors, Matthew Fuller and Eyal Weizman, argue for forms of investigating and presenting information aimed not just at reading but working the conjunction. This idea of a ‘conjunction’ is something that comes out…
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Last year, Ayo launched the Salt Book Club to discuss fiction set in Greater Manchester or written by Mancunian authors. The idea was that people who weren’t from the city or wanted to learn more about it could use literature as an entry-point. We wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on discussions we had…
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