The wide open abandoned space of the former Warner Bros Cinema at Pilsworth industrial estate has long held a weird fascination for me, drawing me towards it without really understanding why. (It is listed here in a strange Domesday entry http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-380000-408000/page/6

Pilsworth was the first big out of town development near Bury, with Cinema, bowling, ASDA and always some sort of family eating place (Chiquitos, Pizza Hut etc), so subsequently I have spent a fair bit of time up there shopping, watching movies and bowling. The cinema closed a while ago and sits as this huge boarded-up building, completely useless and probably never likely to be of any use again, a modern ruin? Although boarded up and empty shops are a lot more commonplace as the financial crisis begins to properly bite, the scale of abandonment here felt overwhelming and frightening

 

I wanted to go and make some art there, to confront the emptiness and sense of desolation by doing something creative in a place that seem bereft of hope, potential or future.

 Me and him (good friend and fellow artist/poet Martin http://malleableart.wordpress.com/ )

went up to the overgrown car park armed with paper and chalk to do something with the space, we didn’t really have a focus but part of the fun was to simply go and take over this concrete wilderness that was sitting useless and make it useful for a time.

I think we were also a little bit fed up with the Manchester International Festival ( http://mif.co.uk/ ) which seemed to be promoting art, creativity and inclusivity still didn’t feel like it was open to all to take part in, mainly due to the cost of many of the events. The not part of festival ( http://notpartof.org/ ) does seek to re-address that balance but somehow we just couldn’t seem to get an “in”, perhaps next time.

We drew, talked about art and left a mark somewhere where it may never be seen. Sometimes it’s enough to do something rather than nothing, and to take an abandoned place and use it, like that empty shop I keep walking past…Hmmm http://www.artistsandmakers.com/staticpages/index.php/emptyshops