A day at the beach...

A Day at the Beach

Friday finally came around, after gathering all beach essentials, Deck Chair, Parasol, Paddling pool and lots of sand we arrived at our site.

The site was just off Back Piccadilly, and located itself just opposite a row of bus stops.

We started laying down mats to cover in sand, to avoid tainting the site and allowing for easy removal. The deck chair was out and the beach was taking shape! There were many passers by who stopped to watch, looking very confused, especially as we were wearing sun visors, sunglasses and hula skirts!

Once the beach was set up we took to the streets promoting our beach and handing out flyers, this proved very successful as people who we had handed flyers to visited the beach hours later, which was quite encouraging for us!

So the day went on, and we had many visitors varying from business-men, builders, families etc. But despite this number, the majority of people that came, came to enquire what we were doing or just to look, there were few who actually stopped to sit.

The day came to an end and was successful. The beach created a destination to an ordinarily thoroughfare space, a space that exists simply as a platform for travel from Lever Street to Oldham Street, whilst putting a smile on everybody's face!

Wish you were here!

workshop 4: 10th may

Final day! The groups presented their projects, using a variety of media including photos, maps, videos and installations. All the interventions were demonstrated vibrantly and imaginatively.

feedback!

tommy.

workshop 3: 4th may

All the groups reported about their various consultation activities. They also demonstrated how they had selected a site. This was done as a short presentation by each group to wish you were here as a whole. Then discussions followed with the whole group on the form the interventions may take. Below is an overview of how each group is getting on.

Group 1 – Matt, Jo, Chuanhui, Pete
Site – Ancoats
Ideas – CCTV, public space not being used, figures acting out scenes, looking at animation and journeys to explain intervention.

Group 2 – Becky, Sarah, Cassie
Site – Piccadilly/ Back Piccadilly
Ideas – Manchester has everything apart from a beach, hosting a beach event in an alleyway, they've set up facebook group and event, why don't you join them, asking people to write postcards while at the beach...

Group 3 – Orlando, Tom, Huseyin
Site –Deansgate and Castlefield
Ideas – Empty shop fronts, livening area up, fairground activities, having activities for children, other groups not catered for in the area...

Group 4 – Jordan, Ama, Dael, Charlotte
Site – Northern Quarter
Ideas – confusing signs, getting people to see a different side to the area, maps as activities, picnic, tea...

Each group have to communicate their intervention next week using promotional material including films, posters and postcards and any other appropriate media.

wish you were here? we do!

Emily

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.......?

Washing Line Effect: T-shirts left to dry.

On Thursday, our group met up early and decided to try and produce a logo for our intervention. Having spoken to the public and received a perfectly good idea.... and also in combination with the holiday programme 'wish you were here,'... we decided to combine a beachy theme with the city to play on the sort of postcard imagery.

Due to the help we had off Nell, we came up with a simple yet effective design for the t-shirts and began to screen print them.

We made stencils for the Beetham tower which were printed in grey first. The process took two people- one to hold down the wooden screen, and the other to press the paint onto the fabric with a 'squidgy.'

Having allowed time to let this dry, we then applied the second stencil in orange paint. This stencil was the silhouette of a beach umbrella and a bucket and spade, placed in the foreground.

Our finished t-shirts now look like this... :)

We are also considering ironing on the phrase 'wish you were here...' and may/may not do this at a later date :)

The t-shirts may give a clue as to what our final intervention might be.

Sarah, Becky, Cassie

Ugly Duckling

The results and feedback from our survey highlighted Deansgate as the most unloved of our 15 spaces, in particular the northern end. The general feeling was that the area is becoming lifeless, with the rising amount of empty shop fronts making it a non place for dust, grime and litter to gather.

When visiting the site, we were struck by how overlooked the River running parallel to Deansgate is, considering how close it is and its importance to the city's history. The River Irwell is now used merely as marketing tool for selling plush "riverside" apartments and apart from the relatively recent trinity footbridge development (used mainly by businessmen) the links from Deansgate are nonexistent.





For our intervention we wanted to draw people from deansgate road to the river, to emphasise the potential this area has and to open it up to the public.

In a utopian view this passage could be restored to its former glory, with lush clear waters passing through rows of crumbling brutalist experiments gone wrong.



In the 19th Century the river held fish and was primarily used as a source of drinking water for the townspeople. The thought of returning to this oasis is an alluring prospect.


To be continued...