Manchester Urbis – temporay closing from February 2010
I don’t get over to Manchester’s Urbis as often as I would like to but I am always amazed at the fantastic exhibitions they have there.
Manchester is rightfully proud of The Urbis (Cathedral Gardens, Manchester, M4 3BG). However, it has been decided that the Urbis is now going to house the National Football Museum. There are plans to close the Urbis from around February 2010 to refit it to host the new Museum. If things go to plan the Museum will open in 2011 and the current exhibitions will remain on display until Feb 2010. So, there is still time to see some of the great exhibitions on display. Here are three that are definitely worth visiting, with some YouTube videos of the exhibitions………………
Home Grown:The Story of UK Hip Hop,
Chronicles the development of the UK Hip Hop scene.
Manchester, Television & The City: Ghosts of Winter Hill
A celebration of Manchester’s Television past, present and future, investigating the cultural impact of Television on the city and the people who live here.
Curry Mile
Located in ‘The Corridor’ (situated between the foyer and the shop)
An exhibition capturing the colour, excitement and spice of Manchester’s famous district, Rusholme.
All of these exhibitions are free………….
Why is it necessary to take away the variety offered by the Urbis exhibitions to make way for more nonsense about football? If it is necessary to have a special museum for football then a small levy on the ridiculous salaries paid to premier league footballers would pay for a new, dedicated facility. Perhaps it would do them some good to put their money to the public good rather than racing through the Manchester airport runway tunnels and smashing up £150000 sports cars. I for one will never see the inside of Urbis again as I have no interest whatsoever in football.
Where will the exhibitions go in future? Most of the other art galleries are set in their ways and unlikely to house such variety. It is certainly a further sign of dumbing down to have the history of grown men being paid to kick and inflated bladder around replacing a vbrant exhibition space.