Stage 1: Cornerhouse, Manchester 12 April - 17 June 07

In Spring 2007, artists Sarah Eyre and Deyan Raykov collaborated with Cornerhouse – Manchester’s leading international contemporary arts gallery – as well as Redeye’s photography symposium, Look 07, to host Stage 1 of the project. From 1st April people of all works of life – from sixth form students and aspiring artists through to professional photographers and passers by – were invited to take part in an exhibition that within days of taking a picture presented their images on Cornerhouse’s walls. Images were put up daily, and frequenters of the space saw 15 strings of images – visual chains of narrative – evolve and sprawl across the walls…

The project was marketed across all audience groups. Participants signed up by texting a dedicated number and were then told to expect an image at some point during the follow month. By the time the project finished, over 600 images had been sent in. Press coverage heralded the results as ‘a smile-inducing collection of pictures that beautifully illustrates just how weird and wonderful the human imagination can be’ (The Metro, 14 June).

The closing party saw participants come together who’d never met, but had responded personally and intelligently to each other’s images. Ideas and explanations for individual contributions were shared and the evening celebrated the unlikely coincidences that the project was precisely designed to generate.

The project was funded by the Arts Council England, with the support of Cornerhouse.