After looking through my photos I took of my visit to the Museum of Science and Museum, I decided to go back to look at other areas in the museum that caught my eye the first time. I took a photo of the ceiling as it was old fashioned and hadn't been replaced like some of the other architecture in the museum, the ceilings were bricked with brick red beams running through them. I like this area of wear and tear in the building, it leaves abit of history behind, something that cannot be replaced.

I also visited some of the other buildings and in one of them was an underground of Manchester years back. There were old toilets, wells and tunnels that were really dark and led to a brighter opening, the image below was off a dark tunnel that I found intriguing, it gave me the feeling of 'presence of absence'.

In the textiles room there was an old door that had been restored by repainting it, doing this takes away the wear and tear of history replacing it with something fresh not always to everyones liking. I like the idea of restoring something old, not by making it new but by making it's history evident.

The Special Collections...

I have been to the Special Collections Introduction before but I could not really remember much so this chance to hear it again was useful. The Special Collections hold a variety of resources that could be very beneficial especially for this project as they hold archives, books, sketchbooks that focus on the history of Manchester and around Manchester. If you came to the Special Collection talk, which was on Monday, then you would have seen a variety of objects, books, sketchbooks that were chosen out especially for our project Unit X. I had taken some photos of some of the pop up books and sketchbooks that I found interesting and helpful within my project. I would definitely recommend using the special collections as it gives us the opportunity to handle primary archives, books and objects that some students may never have heard or seen of. The Special Collections is located on the third floor in the library building.

The Visual Resources Centre...

In the slide library, there are three main image collections:

· Main Art and Design Slide Collections

· Design Council Slide Collections

· Lantern Slide Collections

There are over 275,000 slides in the collections overall and some slides even date back nearly fifty years. The slides can be taken out of the library and John Davis is always on hand for advice on where to find specific areas. The slides can be viewed using slide viewers/wallets, light boxes and slide projectors. I think this resource is useful for inspiration, visual research, to draw from and to extract information from. The slides are a good tool to visually play with and challenge. As the slides date back they could be valuable to my project when looking for images on Manchester’s history, that is what these slides hold, history. I think the slides are accessible and I am definitely going to use them in my project as there too beneficial not too. The slides are sourced from books, film strips and original photography so they are a reliable resource.

The David Haslam Talk...

I did not really know what to expect going to this talk but I was surprised by how much I understood. David Haslam talked a lot about different bands that started out in margins but after time some grew more popular but not completely mainstream. What I got from this lecture was that a small scene has potential to grow, mainly publicised by the word of mouth. David Haslam believes that culture lies within the margins and carries significance. What I aim to take out of the lecture is that the margins are on a smaller scale than commercial but that does not mean that eventually they won’t be as big, because they could. Translated to my project; the smallest of my ideas could be the one that has the biggest potential and also to look at places around Manchester that aren’t as obvious and common.

My arrivals task at the Museum of Science and Industry

My expectations of the Science and Industry museum was for the building to be very old-fashioned with worn down bricks that had fragmented pieces falling off, upon my arrival my expectations were proven slightly right as there was worn down bricks like an old building would have. However, entering the building there was many added features that were very modern; like the double automatic doors, I walked through. Inside the décor were bricked walls, with the modern touch of wooden panelling running through certain areas of the walls. There was a charming man that greeted me on entrance; he added warmth to the entrance considering that the floors are laid with cold greyish concrete flags. Even though there were visions of old machinery already present, there was a reception that had a big widescreen TV that took away the feel of a museum, the reception desk, which was on the left hand side, also contained a variety of leaflets that contained information on the museum. As it was spacious, there was an echoing of laughter from all the children on school visits, they were all mainly focusing on the gift shop to the right of entrance. The concrete flags came to a stop where the wooden flooring began; this made the museum feel a lot warmer. In the centre of the ground floor there was an interactive display that consisted of the viewer’s taking photos of him or herself which was then displayed on the TV’s that was in the installation. To my guess, it had fibre optic lights running through the middle of the installation that changed from colour to colour. Behind this on the wall panelling around were screens that have patterns displayed on them adding extra colour to the room. On the right hand side top corner the plastered walls were in different colours representing a different era, making it clear to the viewers. Even though this area seems modern and very technical, I looked up to the ceiling to see old brick red beams with bricks as the ceiling. Above this however, the architecture shifts to modern with its use of glass and plastic bordering. There’s also inviting comfortable seating areas at the side of displayed units to the right.

As soon as I opened the glass doors leading into the Textiles area, the first glimpse I got was of old yarn machinery. As I looked around there were colourful informative timelines that added colour and light to the darkness/dullness of the machinery. Throughout this room, modern technology is positioned. Areas of different themes were split and easily readable. This room continued on the old ceilings and red beams however, modern touches were added in the sense of the silver decorative light shades that hung. Old artefacts that are moved to different museums are placed and displayed in glass cabinets taking away some of its authenticity. The right hand side of this room holds some of the old features that have been resurrected for example; an old door, which is huge, has been repainted, looking at it up close it is obvious to some wear and tear. Also on the right hand, side is a contemporary wall hanging that a variety of schools participated in. This room definitely has a mixture of old and modern features; projectors are used to display old images, new designed stain glass windows that are boarded off with the old borders that have just been repainted. In the bottom right hand corner are old images displayed in a contemporary glass frame, this leads on to a modern bridge with wooden floor panelling, at the side of this are current pictures that children have drawn. The bridge leads to a display of 5 large ceiling hangings that were very old. Going down a wooden ramp on the left top hand corner led to a modern beige carpet with blocks of different images and information on. In this area there were a few interactive games but what caught my attention the most was these long draped modern curtains that were displayed in front of the windows(there were 3 of them). As I thought I had seen everything I noticed that in the top left hand corner was a glass cabinet that contained some work done by Jennifer Collier, it consisted of 2 dresses, shoes and other accessories. I wonder why all of these modern changes have been made, maybe for safety regulations? Or maybe to make an old historical building more modern to get more people involved?