For the reopening of the Whitworth and the launch of Whitworth Young Contemporaries, I created a 10 minute intro film and soundscape that started the event. This was played in the Grand Hall as the audience members came in to the space and sought to add intrigue, build anticipation and introduce WYC before the Mouse Outfit band performed and our 360 degree interactive visual extravanganza kicked off.
The visuals were found static imagery of VHS and TV static and interference (9 mins) with the intent to unerve the viewer and get across the idea that the Whitworth Young Contemporaries were reprogramming, hacking into and retuning the gallery space. This built to a montage sequence starting with archive black and white photos of Manchester and the Whitworth changing to colour images of modern day Manchester, the WYC youth group and our previoud events signalling the future for young people at the gallery.
The soundscape was created using archive samples (prelinger) from 1950s american educational videos as well as overheard voices and conversations of mancunians. It referenced our previous WYC projects, Whitworth park and instructional 1980s computer programming videos, I used lots of distorting and disorientatng effects to convey a hacking/sampling aesthetic.
VICKY CLARKE 