Due to the nature of this artwork and its dependence on urban regeneration schedules, the dates are to be confirmed.
Location: Chapel Street at the former site of The Old Bank Theatre (at the corner of Islington Street). Reconstruction 100 meters east next to Ye Old Nelson pub.
Part 1 – Stablisation of The Old Bank Theatre wall to stay freestanding as the surrounding architecture comes down.
Part 2 – Demolition rave of mass dismantling scored by Gnod/Gesamkuntswerk and guests.
Part 3 – Reconstruction rave with open participation featuring protagonists of the music and club scenes circa 1989 and 2011, the summers of love and riots.
The Wall is a work by American artist Jen Wu, developed in collaboration with Islington Mill as part of a long-term residency beginning in early 2012 based on the intertwined histories of Mancunian rave and regeneration as told by the demolition of its nightclubs. Meditating on a relationship between parties, dematerialisation and social empowerment, it proposes an event of political resisitance and communal identity in the form of a land art rave action. It is to move a wall.
Admist the transformation of Chapel Street, a row of buildings will come down. But by agreement with Salford City Council, one 8m high brick wall will remain. Comprised entirely of brick, its manual dismantlying and reconstruction through a series of public participatory events will form the architecture and duration for a series of free-party ‘raves.’
Materialising a relationship expressed of music as the monument of the diasporic and the displaced. The Wall seeks to connect the euphoric DIY spirit of ’88-89′ with its evolution in 2013 as a means to precipitate a coming together of disparate people and communities – to together effect a collective monument in the urban built landscape. Once resurrected, The Wall will stay for three years until development of the site begins.
