The Turnpike CIC was a bold, independent not-for-profit arts project with community at its heart, based in Leigh, Greater Manchester.

This web archive, titled Could this be paradise? reflects on our 5 years in Leigh, highlighting the community voices and artists who have worked with us to shape our organisation.

We want to say a huge thank you to our Turnpike family; the team members, volunteers, artists, community members, peer organisations, funders and supporters who have invested their energy, creativity and ingenuity with us over the years.

Exhibitions
Liam Fallon: Supersymmetry
29 July - 7 September 2019

The Turnpike presented the first solo exhibition by Liam Fallon. Since graduating from Manchester School of Art in 2017, Fallon has created a series of bold and ambitious sculptures that explore themes of sexuality, monumentality and the blurred boundaries between public and private spaces. he uses industrial materials such as steel, Jesmonite, rubber and wood, and adopts factory processes taught to him by his father and grandmother including casting, welding and joinery.

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The exhibition took its title from a theory in particle physics called Supersymmetry; a hypothesis of symmetry in space and time which suggests that every type of particle can be paired with a perfect partner.

Adopting this scientific theory, Fallon proposes that we are never really alone and has created an exhibition that is about the search for a true companion. The exhibition charted both falling in love and suffering loss; occurrences that at once unfold in the public realm and remain intensely private. Fallon's sculptures reflect both the physical and psychological contrast between public and private space, and how both are arenas for life's encounters which include love, sex, fear and loneliness.

This residency and exhibition was supported using public funding by Arts Council England.