The North quarter of Manchester … another part of Manchester totally changed since my last wander round – probably not that long ago. Quite funkyfied – once only worth going there for Afflecks Palace – now lots of places to check out, including some good record shops.
Urbis had an exhibition of video games which I had to have a look at … 3 pounds in, that would have paid for 30 games of space invaders in myyyy day! But also apart from a fleeting mention of the ZX81 and BBc Micro, the video games were somewhat after my time. I was struck my how small the keyboard for the ZX Spectrum appeared, but then our hands may have been smaller in those days. Not sure what the need to have playable setups of the latest consoles was – wouldn’t it have been better to have games that you can’t see normally? Still I suppose everyone has there own nostalgia region for the machines they owned or played – maybe next time they should fill the whole of Urbis…
On the 2nd floor was an exhibition of modern art largely from New York, but I was more taken with the photography exhibition on the third floor, constructed images of Manchester the lightbox images were especially beautiful. Andrew Paul Brooks constructed the images digitally to make part real and part fictional visions of Manchester locations.
Manchester Art Gallery was sadly between exhibitions, and not a lot going on in there I hadn’t seen – there was a Peter Fraser photograph which reminded me of one of my tutors telling me I must get to see one of his books, but this was now rare, and I never saw. The image didn’t seem like it would be one of his best, still a nice reminder. Also Cornerhouse was between exhibitions – I left quickly in case I started buying lots of expensive magazines from the shop.
