Hammerton Street Saturday Night...

We now have the outline of what the first piece of work will be at Towneley Hall as part of Grennan & Sperandio's series of works reflecting on the relationship between the collections at Towneley Hall and the social networks of Burnley town centre.

'Hammerton Street Saturday Night’ places five dirty 19th century glass dome vitrines on top of a light box showing green light, custom-made in Burnley by B&J Signs.
The work evokes the aesthetic and the experience of Burnley’s bar and club culture. The vitrines, from Towneley's neolithic artefacts store room, replace both bottles of liquor in behind-the-bar displays and stand in for people crowded at the bar itself. The green glow and electric blue facia belong to this aesthetic, experienced weekly around Hammerton Street in clubs and bars such as Lava and Ignite, Fusion, Tabu and the Iron Works. However, the vitrines belong entirely to a culture of domestic display, now ‘either antique’ or overlooked. They reside in junk shops, back rooms and museum stores. Light enlivens the vitrine’s coat of grime, making their condition intentional and visible. It anthropomorphises them, and they become curious participants in a small Saturday night drama.

Going on display in the Burnley Room at Towneley on the 20th of May. I'm very intrigued to see how this first piece will look...