Cornerhouse is a centre for cinema and the contemporary visual arts located very close to Oxford Road Station, on Oxford Street in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It has three floors of art galleries, three cinemas, a bookshop, a bar and a café bar.

The centre is operated by Greater Manchester Arts Centre Ltd, a registered charity.

The buildings

Cornerhouse occupies two buildings: 70 Oxford Street was formerly Shaw’s furniture store; the building on the other side of the approach to the station was built as a cinema and went through many changes of name (News Theatre, Essoldo, Classic, Tatler Cinema Club). The main building was built John Shaw in the early 1900s and was a furniture store run by the family until it closed in 1985.

History

Cornerhouse was conceived by the Greater Manchester Visual Arts Trust, chaired by Sir Bob Scott. It opened with the support of the then Greater Manchester County Council

Greater Manchester County Council

The Greater Manchester County Council — also known as the Greater Manchester Council — was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater Manchester from 1974 to 1986...

 and Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...

, North West Arts Association (now part of Arts Council England

Arts Council England

Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...

) and the British Film Institute

British Film Institute

The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...

.

Cornerhouse's first Director was Dewi Lewis, who had previously been Director of Bury Metro Arts

The Met (arts centre)

The Met is a performing arts venue in Bury, Greater Manchester. It has two theatre spaces and a café bar.The centre is operated by Bury Metropolitan Arts Association, a registered charity, and it popularly known as Bury Met.-Location:...

. The building opened on 3 October 1985. The first film screened (on 18 October) was Nic Roeg

Nicolas Roeg

Nicolas Jack Roeg, CBE, BSC is an English film director and cinematographer.-Life and career:Roeg was born in London, the son of Mabel Gertrude and Jack Nicolas Roeg...

's Insignificance

Insignificance (film)

Insignificance is a 1985 motion picture drama/comedy directed by Nicolas Roeg, produced by Jeremy Thomas and Alexander Stuart, and adapted by Terry Johnson from his play of the same name. The film is set in 1954, with most of the action taking place in a hotel room in New York City...

.

Over its 25 year history it has played host to the UK premiere of Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...

’s Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...

 and was the first UK public gallery to commission work from Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst

Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...

.

Programme

The Cornerhouse's programme offers independent cinema and contemporary art in the galleries. As well as playing host to International Doodlebug Day (graffiti festival) and New Contemporaries (exhibition of the best recently graduated artists) the galleries aim to show work celebrating innovative artists.

Cornerhouse also operates an international distribution service for contemporary visual arts books and catalogues, working with over 95 publishers including Arnofini, BALTIC, British Council Visual Arts and Design Publications, Hayward Gallery Publishing, the Henry Moore institute, ICA, The Lowry, Modern Art Oxford, Photoworks and Picture This.

External links