It was a real pleasure to have been commisioned by the It Started With a Seed International Storytelling Festival as part of the 2024 Manchester Histories Festival to write a sries of poems in response to the 200 Year annivesary of Manchester Metropolitan Univesity. When I first saw the shout out for this project, I knew it would give me the opportunity to engage with not only the archive history of the university, but also its growth and development alongside Manchester, its current position in the city (spatially and historically) and what the future of its presence in the city might look and feel like. READ ALL THE POEMS HERE
The process of writing involved a combination of archive resarch, visits to the amazing staff at MMU Special Collections (who were so generous and helpful with their time) and a series of site vists and walking tours- one of which I led with a group of fantastic architecture students.
This vast hoistry was almost duanting in its scope so to structure the response, I conceptualised three phases and three poems: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Yestedray was focused on the origns and legacy, Today looked at where the university sits as part of the current make-up of Manchester and Tomorrow as a more speculative view of the possible future.
Finding hidden histories in archives and developing a better understanding of where the univesity came from (aided in a massive way by two fantastic books Many Arts, Many Skills: Origins of Manchester Metropolitan and Manchester Metropolitan University: images of history) and what it became while having time to explore the site on foot and really engage with the pysical space of the campus was really inspirational and helped me write three poems I was really very proud of. This culimated reading all three poems at the launch of the festival in the iconic Central Library– the right words in the right place at the right time; a real dream. It was also amazing to hear and see the responses of the other comissioned artists too- what an amazing range of work looking at the same subject from a multiplicity of angles. I also produced three sculptures inspired by my research; bricks which matched the building of the campus etched on their “spines” with titles of books from the special collections. The poems will be published later this year and there may yet be some more events and opportunities to share. A small fragment of the whole though which I feel captures the essence of the commission.
The solution to the puzzle of the future
Is within you.
Nestled spark to burning ember,
Guiding light to flaming torch,
bringing clarity, showing us the way
Out of the darkness.
Josef Minta 
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