Urbis
| Urbis | |
|---|---|
 Urbis from Cathedral Gardens with the CIS Tower and The Printworks in background. |
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| General information | |
| Type | Museum & Arts Centre |
| Location | Manchester city centre, Manchester |
| Completed | 2002 |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Glass |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Ian Simpson |
Urbis is an exhibition centre located in Manchester, England. From 2002 to 2010, the centre hosted changing exhibits on popular culture topics including urban living, art, music, fashion, photography and videogames alongside talks, gigs and special events.
As of July 2011, Urbis is temporarily closed while the interior space is adapted before opening as the National Football Museum later in the year.
Contents |
[edit] Architecture and design
Urbis is located in a unique building in Cathedral Gardens, designed by Ian Simpson Architects with consulting engineers Martin Stockley Associates. The building opened in June 2002 as part of the redevelopment of Exchange Square known as the Millennium Quarter.
[edit] History
Urbis, a museum and exhibition centre intended to showcase inner-city life, opened on 27 June 2002 as part of regeneration after the 1996 Manchester bombing.[1] The project attracted £30 million funding from the Millennium Commission and £1 million from Manchester City Council towards the running costs.[2] The exhibition space covered five floors and hosted temporary exhibitions running for between three and five months.
[edit] Museum of the City (2002–2004)
The museum's first director quit in March 2003, amid criticism that Urbis was not appealing and the exhibits were too abstract.[3] First year visitor figures fell 58,000 short of its 200,000 target and the Millennium Commission who provided £20m of funds threatened to reclaim its money if Manchester City Council had to close the centre.[4]
Visitors paying a £5 admission fee were unimpressed and there were few return visits which the management saw as a key problem.[3] By October 2003, visitor numbers were less than 200 a day[5] and criticism mounted as to whether a £2m subsidy from Manchester City Council was money well spent[6] although Urbis did garner some praise in other quarters.[7]
A move aimed at giving Urbis a clear identity was made, as many had queried its purpose and in an attempt to boost visitor figures, the admission fee was scrapped in December 2003.[8] The plan worked, visitor figures trebled by January 2004[9] steadily increasing to fivefold by April 2004.[10]
Urbis' chief executive admitted in 2010 that the 'Museum of the City' which ran from 2002 to 2004, "just didn't work".[11]
[edit] Popular culture (2004–2010)
In 2004, a radical decision was taken to rebrand Urbis as an exhibition centre for British popular culture with emphasis on Manchester and would no longer be referred to as a museum[12] in an attempt to give it a clear identity. With no admission fee, Urbis shook off its white elephant title[13] with visitor numbers rising and over a quarter of visitors from outside the city.[13]
[edit] National Football Museum (2011–present)
Urbis closed in February 2010 ahead of the conversion to house the National Football Museum from the summer of 2011,[14] controversially making a majority of the staff redundant. This was followed by a decision to close the 'Modern' bar and restaurant. Plans to relocate the National Football Museum from Preston in Lancashire emerged in 2009[15] The museum trustees cited long-term funding worries as the reason for relocating to Manchester[16][not in citation given] where they hoped to attract 400,000 visitors a year – four times the previous figure.[15]
Preston City Council were unhappy at the proposals[17] and in an effort to thwart the move, the University of Central Lancashire, Lancashire County Council and Preston City Council put together a bid worth £400,000 per year to the museum;[18] however, they were outbid by Manchester City Council's bid of up to £2 million per year.[15] Upon the museum's opening, admission will be free[19] and a broad advertising campaign will aim to attract visitors to Urbis.[20]
[edit] History of exhibitions and events
- 2009
State of Art: New York which was exhibited from April to September showcased the contemporary art scene in New York.[21] Videogame Nation chartered the rise of video games over the past four decades and how the industry has since become a multi-billion pound industry whose horizons have opened to new 'casual gamers' with the success of the Wii and Nintendo DS.[22] The Best of Manchester Awards 2009, the annual exhibit, celebrated Mancunian culture in 2009.[23] Home Grown: The Story of UK Hip Hop, which was exhibited from October 2009 to February 2010 was the first attempt in the UK to document the hip-hop music scene.[24] Manchester, Television & the City: Ghosts of Winter Hill, explored Manchester successful television industry with companies such as Granada Television, BBC North and the programmes created in Manchester.[25][26] The exhibition was created to coincide with the digital switchover in the Granada region and the continuing move to MediaCityUK.
- 2008
- Reality Hack: Hidden Manchester
- The Manchester Zinefest
- How Manga took over the world
- Urban Gardening
- Emory Douglas retrospective
- My first Pride
- 2007
- The Haçienda 25 The Exhibition: Fac 491
- D&AD Exhibition: The Best Design and Advertising in the World
- Catapult 07
- Arrivals & Departures: New Art Perspectives of Hong Kong
- PLAY: Experience the Adventure of Our Cities
- City 'til I Die?[27][28]
- Best of Manchester
- 2006
- Under Surveillance
- British Art Show 6
- Little Black Dress
- D&AD: The Best Advertising Design in the World
- Manchester 0161: This is what we're made of
- The China Show
- Make Me Shine
- 2005
- Rock 'n' Roll Icons: the photography of Mick Rock
- Punk: Sex, Seditionaries and the Sex Pistols
- SuperCity[29]
- 2004
- Manchester 24
- ILL COMMUNICATION II
- DTroit
- The Sounds of Two Cities
- Futuresonic04
- The Peter Saville Show
- 2003
- Compost Cities
- Ill Communication
- Taxi!
- Heliodays in the rainy city
- 2002
- Architecture by Stealth
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Houston, Julia (15 June 2006). "From bomb site to style capital". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/5036258.stm.
- ^ "Museum of the modern city opens". BBC. 27 June 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2070340.stm.
- ^ a b "Boss quits ailing Urbis". Manchester Evening News. 3 March 2003. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/52/52975_boss_quits_ailing_urbis.html.
- ^ Ottewell, David (23 July 2003). "Urbis's £20m catch". Manchester Evening News. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/63/63470_urbiss_20m_catch.html.
- ^ Ottewell, David (8 October 2003). "New calls to cut Urbis handouts". Manchester Evening News. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/69/69532_new_calls_to_cut_urbis_handouts.html.
- ^ Ward, David (27 October 2003). "New attractions for a new millennium... but can they survive now the honeymoon's over?". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/oct/27/arts.artsnews?INTCMP=SRCH.
- ^ Redding, Scott (20 October 2003). "Why I love... Urbis, the museum of urban life". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2003/oct/20/features11.g23?INTCMP=SRCH.
- ^ "Museum drops entry fee". BBC. 27 December 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3351441.stm.
- ^ "Visitors flock to fee-free Urbis". Manchester Evening News. 9 January 2004. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/77/77766_visitors_flock_to_feefree_urbis_.html.
- ^ "Urbis visitors increase by 550%". BBC. 12 April 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3619813.stm.
- ^ "Urbis boss 'bitter sweet' over its future in Manchester". BBC. 24 February 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8534000/8534279.stm.
- ^ Brown, Mark (24 January 2010). "Urbis sent off: Manchester cultural hub to become football museum". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jan/24/urbis-manchester-cultural-football-museum?INTCMP=SRCH. ""We banned the word museum.""
- ^ a b Ward, David (11 May 2004). "The white elephant that learned to fly". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/may/11/education.regeneration?INTCMP=SRCH.
- ^ Manchester's Urbis closes to become National Football Museum BBC 27 February 2010. Retrieved on 23 April 2010.
- ^ a b c "National Football Museum to move to Urbis". Manchester Evening News. 2009. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1182980_national_football_museum_to_move_to_urbis. Retrieved on 21 December 2009.
- ^ "Football museum 'needs more cash'". BBC. 23 January 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/6289689.stm.
- ^ "Anger over football museum move". BBC. 19 November 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/8367849.stm.
- ^ "Rival bid on football museum move". BBC. 15 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/8308733.stm.
- ^ "No late kick-off: Football museum will overcome funding cuts to open on time in Urbis". Manchester Evening News. 6 January 2011. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1404481_no_late_kickoff_football_museum_will_overcome_funding_cuts_to_open_on_time_in_urbis.
- ^ "Brazen PR plays ball with National Football Museum". Manchester Evening News. 4 July 2011. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/media/s/1425485_brazen-pr-plays-ball-with-national-football-museum.
- ^ "State of the Art: New York". Urbis. http://urbisarchive.org/exhibitions/state-of-the-art-new-york/. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
- ^ "Videogame Nation". Urbis. http://urbisarchive.org/exhibitions/videogame-nation/. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
- ^ "Best of Manchester Awards 2009". Urbis. http://urbisarchive.org/exhibitions/best-of-manchester-awards-09/. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
- ^ "Home Grown: The Story of UK Hip Hop". Urbis. http://urbisarchive.org/exhibitions/home-grown-the-story-of-uk-hip-hop/. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
- ^ "Manchester, Television & the City: Ghosts of Winter Hill". Urbis. http://urbisarchive.org/exhibitions/manchester-television-the-city-ghosts-of-winter-hill/. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
- ^ "Manchester on TV: Ghosts of Winter Hill". BBC. 30 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8332000/8332589.stm. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
- ^ "city til i die". Urbis. http://www.urbis.org.uk/page.asp?id=3088. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
- ^ "Urbis pays homage to City fans". Manchester Evening News. 17 April 2007. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/entertainment/arts/s/1004/1004765_urbis_pays_homage_to_city_fans.html.
- ^ Worsley, Giles (19 January 2005). "Shaping the future". Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3635280/Shaping-the-future.html.
[edit] External links
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