Places of Public Resort
Pending confirmation of the technical wizardry required to pull this sort of project together, I’ve received the full support of the folk at the North West Film Archive in plundering the 15,373 news and feature stories recorded to 9,763 cans of 16mm film and magnetic track containing items inserted into live studio shows at BBC North between 1973 - 1986. The archivists will be helping me to select content relating to those moments and occasions when large crowds descend upon Places of Public Resort
Initially intended as a response to the development of a new public plaza on the banks of the River Mersey, I began thinking about the authoritarian fear of large crowds when - in direct contradiction - footfall or turnstile numbers are massaged and multiplied beyond recognition to quantify success for outdoor activity or civic projects. Either we stay at home playing LardArse 5: Colonic Assault, berated for not dusting off our fringed parasols, or we’re being accused of loitering with intent for tying our shoelaces.
I’m old enough to remember the former Belle Vue Fairground and Zoological Gardens in Manchester, live not far from the former White City Amusement Park, attended with my parents and a then-unbelievable 250,000 others the Pope’s visit to Heaton Park, recall the long-derelict International Garden Festival site in Liverpool and hanker for Great Exhibition styled opportunities to wonder - point - pay homage - peer and gather en masse without having to source legal representation in advance.
Don’t you?