(Above) © Andrew Paul Brooks
Experimental photographer Andrew Paul Brooks has investigated the hidden depths of Manchester city centre for the ‘Reality Hack: Hidden Manchester’ Exhibition at Urbis.
The exhibition will start on December 2 and features a series of scenes made up of hundreds of photos taken from different viewpoints to create detailed works that capture the atmosphere of these largely inaccessible areas.
Andrew Paul Brooks said: “My work explores as aspect of Manchester which is usually reduced to the peripheries when visualising the city, so I am really excited to see them magnified onto such a wide platform. The images are all about the scale, so they need to be seen big and close up to be appreciated to their full affect.”
© Andrew Paul Brooks
Some of the sites explored in the exhibition include Manchester Town Hall’s hidden courtyard and its clock tower’s four imposing angels, and the Cathedral Steps Arches in the banks of the River Irwell next to Victoria Station whose access is a closely guarded secret.
Curator Andy Brydon said: “The show is an interesting commentary on city dwellers’ relationship with their environment today. Alongside the everyday apparently mundane experience of the city exists a mysterious underbelly.”
“Curiosity, however, is increasingly met with suspicion. We are alienated from areas that provide no obvious gain, economic or otherwise. At Urbis we were keen to shine a light on these invisible spaces that are the foundations of Manchester’s character and celebrate the people who are keeping them alive.”
© Andrew Paul Brooks
Go to www.urbis.org.uk for exhibition and gallery details and ‘Reality Hack: Hidden Manchester’ will run between December 2, 2008 and May 2009.
