Curry Mile Walk

Thank you to everyone who came along and participated in the Queer Urban Walk through Rusholme, it was a great night and initiated some very interesting discussions.

The event consisted of each participant being handed an envelope. There were 3 NAVIGATOR envelopes and 18 PERSONAL STORIES envelopes (these were stories/memories previously collected from people on Canal Street and on the Curry Mile). All envelopes were mixed up and handed out to the group randomly.

The three NAVIGATOR envelopes required their recipient to lead the group through the surrounding area of the Curry Mile, naviagting thier own chosen path. The selected navigator was requested to stop three times. At each stop another member of the group would open their STORIES envelope and read out its contents.

The aim was to collate the collected memories into a continuous dialogue of voices and replay them back into different parts of the city, on this occassion Rusholme.

Rather than being a prescribed and predetermined route, we delegated the role of navigators to the unsuspecting participants with the intention that the walks became directly responsive to the surrounding urban enviroment in a way that would only happen at that time, on that day.

Queer Urban Walk

During the past few weeks Doorstep have been collecting stories and memories from the people that they've met while spending time on Canal Street. These anonymous stories were read out by participants on this Queer Urban Walk, placing the stories in new contexts and bringing new voices to the mix.

Doorstep are interested in how taking a story and moving it within the social and physical parameters of a space with a defined identity, on this occasion Canal Street and the Gay Village, can raise questions about the fixity of that place's identity and of the identities of the people that go there.

This event is part of a wider project Mixing It Up, an aesthetic and educational programme that interrogates the identities of the city of Manchester's most well trafficked neighbourhoods.

Navigating the Manchester Art Scene - We Miss You!!

Doorstep Collective would like to say a big thank you to everyone who contributed their networks to Navigating the Manchester Art Scene!

As Navigating the Manchester Art Scene was an organically evolving exhibtion, Doorstep Collective made many additions to the network on display on the walls of Cornerhouse throughout the duration of the exhibition. These additions stemmed from the public's suggestions as posted in the contribution box in Cornerhouse cafe/bar.

The additions and changes to the network on display were documented through photography as a means of showing the organic devlopment of this exhibition. These photographs appear here on the Doorstep Collective's blogspot!

Navigating the Manchester Art Scene - Doorstep Additions 03/05/07