The exhibition ‘Soft Estate’, the title of which derives from the Highways Agency term used to describe the natural habitats that have evolved along motorways and trunk roads, looks at how green borders offer a refuge for wildlife and a modern form of wilderness in the midst of intense urbanisation and agrochemical farming.

Artist and academic Edward Chell investigates these contemporary motorway landscapes, linking them to 18th century ideas of the picturesque to explore the interface between history, ecology, roads and travel through a series of new works.

Invited artists – Tim Bowditch and Nick Rochowski, Day Bowman, Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale (The Caravan Gallery), John Darwell, Laura Oldfield Ford, George Shaw, Robert Soden, and Simon Woolham – interrogate themes of ‘edgelands’, those familiar yet ignored spaces that are neither city nor countryside. Their works present juxtapositions commonly experienced in these minor landscapes, such as beauty and pollution, wilderness and human agency.

This exhibition has been organised in collaboration with The Bluecoat, Liverpool.

The gallery is open 10am-5pm Tuesday to Saturday. Admission is free.