Exeter Phoenix is pleased to present Correspondence 01, one of a pair of simultaneous, group exhibitions organised in partnership with curator Kristian Day at the Broadway Gallery in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.

It includes work from twenty emerging artists – ten who are based near or have links to each venue – and who are represented by one artwork exhibited in each location.

Exhibition Photos

See individual artist’s information and the partner exhibition at Broadway Gallery here.

Originally conceived during lockdown, as a project that was designed to be flexible and adaptable to the changing Covid environment, the artworks on show have all been created to fit inside a standard A4 ‘Jiffy’ envelope and exchanged by post from each place. With a focus on physical, rather than digital outcomes, and invoking the spirit of mail art and pen pal schemes, the artists, who hadn’t previously known each other, were initially paired up by the partner venues. They were offered the opportunity to meet (remotely), exchange ideas and collaborate where appropriate before making and exchanging their work.

Correspondence 01 aims to nurture localised communities of contemporary artists, while bringing them together with practitioners from a different regional arts scene, in a spirit of collaboration and exchange. It consciously aims to bypass the established opportunities available to artists in large metropolitan centres and seeks to focus on the exciting things happening in our vibrant regional networks. With the implicit proposition for future exchanges, between other places, its model of physical, digital and social outcomes has already allowed artists to forge new links and to grow new networks for the exchange of ideas, audiences and artworks.

These creative networks will be further extended as both venues feature a spotlight on one artist on their social media channels every day of the twenty-day long exhibition.

VENUE: PHOENIX GALLERY