"I think a lot of Mancunians feel like Manchester is not for them anymore": A 'warning' from the future
24.06.2023 - 17:19
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Like a proud parent marking their toddler’s height with a pencil on a door frame, Manchester’s leaders can look at the city centre and see how it has grown.
New skyscrapers keep pushing the upper limit of the second city, with the crown of ‘town’s tallest building’ set to pass to a new 71-storey tower on the edge of Castlefield. It will sit next to the current holder, Deansgate Square’s south tower, at 200m (656 ft) tall.
Now, a new artistic project is attempting to act as a cautionary tale to Manchester’s top brass — and it’s been written by people who know what it’s like to be on the fringes of the city. The creators, Manchester Street Poem and Blast Theory, say they want people to ‘confront people’s perspective about what the city could be’.
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The project, called We Cut Through Dust, will allow ticket-holders to follow a guided tour around Castlefield, led by a phone call. The voice on the line will tell them where to go, as they hear a tale of ‘an imagined view of a near future’ where ‘a big event takes place in the world’, explained Blast Theory’s Ju Row Farr.
Not giving much away, she continued: “It stains everyone in the world but the main characters are devastated.” That's because those main characters on the fringes of Manchester in 60 years' time are hit hardest - because they are marginalised.
During the phone call, tour-goers will reach a series of checkpoints, and type in a PIN number that triggers a giant mechanical sign to open, which is the next ‘chapter heading’ of the story, Ju added.
We Cut Through Dust is not really about the future, though. It’s about Manchester now.
“I am passionate about the city. I think a lot of Mancs