Following the Absence Track in Manchester: Traces and Leisure sites in Peter Street
An online version of a dissertation by Gonzalez Miguez, Carlota. This study is an initial attempt to investigate the idea of absence in the context of the city of Manchester, following the traces left by the buildings that do not exist anymore or have a different function. A group of six buildings, consisting in theatres that were in Peter street have been selected to represent this idea.
Observation, archive consultation and photography, shape the methodology used to study and follow the absence tracks, giving an outlook of how absence can be represented.
It was concluded that although archives can provide a big amount of information about the past life of the buildings, their structures and architecture traces that are in the current city, are the ones that make the absence weaker, giving visibility to what have already gone, contrast that can be perceived through past and present photographs, in this case, of the theatres chosen.
This approach hopes to offer and idea for further investigation in the absence topic, and the visibility and invisibility terms in urban contexts.
Tags: Gonzalez Miguez Carlota, leisure, Manchester, photography, theatre, visual culture, Visual Sociology
